Alternate
by Raberba girl
Summary: First story: Saïx's siblings and girlfriend are out of town, as are all his other friends. That only leaves one person to celebrate Independence Day with.
1. Fourth of July: Saïx

Stepsiblings (alternate universe stories)

A Kingdom Hearts fanfiction series by Raberba girl

Summary: Stories with the same basic setup as "Stepsiblings," but which take place in slightly different alternate universes.

Introduction: In the main _Stepsiblings_ series, the basic premise is that Saïx & Xion's father gets married to Axel & Roxas's mom. I did, however, keep getting plot bunnies for events that could never happen in the main universe, so this sub-series is like a collection of AUs of the Stepsibsverse.

**Oh, and anything in this series might be mentioned in the main universe, even though it didn't actually happen.** Yes, I am ridiculous.

o.o.o

**Fourth of July (rough draft)  
**

_For Saïx/Vexen Day, 4 July 2012_

Summary: Saïx's siblings and girlfriend are out of town, as are all his other friends. That only leaves one person to celebrate Independence Day with. Platonic fic for Saïx/Vexen Day 2012.

A/N: Saïx's POV. Takes place when he's in college. This is an AU because he would miss his sibs too much in the main universe to ever take summer school on campus. XD Also possibly because of Vexen's characterization.

**Btw, **_**Stepsiblings**_** is not specifically set in America (or Japan, ftr).** It's a very vague AU setting...in a country that just happens to have won a revolution on July 4th. *sweatdrop*

My self-confidence is shot... I really, really should not have procrastinated so much in attempting to write the SaiJaz pairing for real. *covers face in embarrassment for thinking I could ever get those two right* And btw, this fic is only about half SaiVex; AkuSaiRokuShi and SaiJaz take up the other half... *sigh* *goes off to cry like the emo perfectionist I am* *final draft will not have these horrible DX-flail A/Ns*

Oh, and it's thirteen minutes 'til the deadline for this fic, so forgive all the horrible tense agreement mistakes I didn't get a chance to fix. DX

o.o.o

The _one_ holiday we were allotted during the second summer session, and even then, I was not allowed sleep in. I should have turned my phone off.

_"Sai-Saiiiii!"_ From the amount of noise and the number of voices in the background, I assumed that they had turned the device to speaker mode.

"Hello, Xion," I said sleepily.

_"You just wake up?"_ Axel laughed.

"Yes..."

_"LAZY, Saïx,"_ Roxas said gleefully. _"It's already lunchtime and you're still in bed."_

"It's seven o'clock in the morning here," I sighed. He was halfway across the world and knew perfectly well about the time difference.

_"Aw, poor Saïx,"_ Xion giggled. _"Daddy, say good morning to Saïx!"_

_"Hello, Saïx."_

"Hello, Father."

_"Mom, say hi to Saïx!"_

_"Ugh, you guys talk to him, I'm busy."_

Typical.

_"Mom."_ That was Axel, sounding fed up. _"SAY HELLO to your son that you haven't seen since Easter."_

_"He's not my son!"_

"Axel, don't worry about it," I tried to say. I really had no patience for these awkward dances.

_"IT'S NOT GONNA KILL YOU TO SAY HI TO SAIX."_ Axel sounded furious, but now the younger two were chiming in.

_"Mooommmm, you have to say hi to Saïx! Pleeeaaase?"_

_"Say hi to Saïx!"_

_"Say hi!"_

_"Say it!"_ Then Roxas started chanting, with Axel and then Xion quickly joining in, _"Say hi! Say hi! Say hi! Say hi!"_

_"ALL RIGHT!"_ Lea shouted. _"Shut up! HELLO, Saïx."_

"Hello, Lea."

_"Yaaayyy! Good job, Mom!"_

_"See, that wasn't hard."_

_"Hush, precious; Axel, _wipe_ that grin off your face."_

_"Children, stop pestering your mother."_

_"I'M NOT A CHILD! I'M ALMOST NINE!"_

"Axel," I said tiredly, "can you please take it off speaker phone...?" The cacophony of staticky voices this early in the morning was starting to give me a headache.

_"No, wait, hold on a sec-"_ Then, apparently, to Father, in a tone of great sarcasm, _"Xem, we're gonna go over there to talk to Sai, okay? _Is that okay with you?_ Yes? Great, catch ya later; c'mon, kiddos."_

I could hear their crunching footsteps. "How has the trip been so far?" I asked. They were all vacationing abroad, the only reason why we were separated today.

_"We saw dolphins!"_ Xion practically shrieked._ "It was SO COOL!"_

_"The boat was really big,"_ Roxas added.

_"Food here's awesome,"_ was Axel's input. _"We've been collecting souvenirs for you everywhere we visit."_

"Oh, no..."

_"You're coming with us next time, right, Sai-Sai?"_ Xion asked anxiously.

"Maybe." I would like to, of course, but I couldn't predict the future. I hadn't planned on taking summer school this session, for example, yet that was how things had worked out.

_"You _have_ to,"_ Roxas said in that bossy way of his. _"You can't _ever_ miss our birthday again, I hate it."_

"You haven't even had your birthday yet."

_"I will. Nine days. Axel's four. Tell him Happy Birthday."_

"Happy birthday, Axel."

_"Thanks, bro!"_

"So does this mean I don't have to call you in four days?"

_"NO!"_

_"You have to call us _every_ day!"_ Xion informed me. As if I hadn't been doing that already.

_"Heh, don't hold it against him, Xi,"_ Axel said with a mischievous note in his voice that made me frown. _"He's too busy calling SOMEONE ELSE every day to have time for us..."_

_"Huh? Who?"_ Roxas said in confusion, but Xion was giggling.

_"Sai-Sai and Jasmine, sittin' in a tree-"_

"Don't be tiresome," I cut her off. "I don't recall ever neglecting the three of you in favor of my other relationship, though I can start if it will fulfill your expectations-"

_"No!"_

_"No!"_

_"What?"_ (That was Roxas.)

_"No, really."_ Axel, finally sounding like he was being serious for once. _"You've been doing good, Sai. It's really great hearing from you."_

I didn't know what to say...my face felt hot. "Well. I like...talking to you three, you know." I almost said _I miss you_, but couldn't quite manage it aloud, no matter how true it was.

I could hear my father's voice calling something indistinguishable in the background.

_"All right, we'll be there in a second!"_ Axel shouted back irritably.

_"Quick,"_ Xion urged the other two. _"We have to tell him why we called him in the first place!"_

_"All right, then, on the count of three: One, two, three!"_

_"HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY~~~!"_ they all bellowed in unison, causing me to jerk the phone away from my ear for a moment.

"...Happy Fourth of July to you, too," I returned, reluctantly cooperative. "A warning about the noise next time, please?"

_"Heh, sorry, Sai."_

_"Saïx."_ That was Roxas, sounding like whatever he wanted to say was urgent. _"Sai, there's no parades here. People don't do _anything_ for Fourth of July, it's just a normal day."_

"Of course. Their Independence Day is different than ours."

_"But...but we're supposed to be in a parade!"_

Axel shouted something at my father. They were going to be forced to hang up soon.

_"Sai-Sai!"_ Xion. _Thankfully_, that horrible nickname had not been picked up by the other two. Much. _"Sai-Sai, since we can't go to the parade, you have to go for us today!"_

"...Ugh."

_"Promise!"_ Roxas yelled. _"Promise you'll go to the parade! DO IT FOR US, SAIX!"_

"Roxas, I had other plans for today."

_"Like what?"_ Axel challenged.

Sleeping. Homework. Eating. Calling my girlfriend. ...Not in that order, probably.

Father was calling again.

_"PROMISE, SAIX!"_ all three of them screamed.

"...I promise."

_"W00t!"_

_"Finally."_

_"Yay! I love you, big brother!"_

"I love you, too, Xion," I said quietly.

There was a pause.

_"Hey!"_

_"Holy flying-!"_

_"You love us, too, right, Saïx!"_

"Yes, Roxas, I love you, too."

_"And me?"_ That mischief was back in full force.

"You can go jump off a cliff, Axel."

_"He doesn't mean it, Axel,"_ Xion said confidently. _"His eyes are probably going, _'I love you I miss you I want you back.'_"_

_"Heheh, yeah, I know."_

"Don't make me doomgaze the phone," I threatened. I hate that term, but it's...caught on. Even Uncle Xigbar and Van use it now.

_"Oooohhhh,"_ my brothers crowed tauntingly.

Now I could hear Lea yelling.

_"All _right_, we're _coming_!"_ Axel shouted.

_"Saïx, your dad's doomgazing us,"_ Roxas pleaded.

"No wonder, the way you've kept him and your mother waiting. Go on, I'll talk to you all later."

_"Have fun at the parade, Sai-Sai."_

"I will." Wait, what?

_"I love you!"_

_"Talk to you later, Sai!"_

_"Bye."_

...They're gone.

I lay there for a while, listening to the silence of the apartment and the silence of the phone in my hand. Then I sat up and leaned back against the headboard as I pressed a speed-dial button. I had learned that on noteworthy days, you are supposed to call people who are important to you.

I was a little afraid she wouldn't pick up at this hour, but then there was a click. _"Saïx,"_ she greeted in a happy purr that made me smile. She sounded sleepy, though.

"Forgive me for waking you, love." The endearments had been so strange to say at first, but they come easily now.

_"Mmm, I can't think of many nicer ways to be woken up."_ I could hear her shifting on the bed. _"I need to get up anyway, some of the girls are already making breakfast."_

"What are you doing today?"

_"Rehearsal, and the dinner afterwards. And a million other things."_

...People usually took dates to things like formal dinners, didn't they. "Jasmine...I should have come."

_"You have school."_

"I could have...come anyway..." Defied my father while looking him in the eye, foregone class, booked a flight halfway across the country in the middle of summer semester...I should have done it. Should have at least determined whether it was important enough to try, but I'd just taken what she said at face value. Again.

_"Saïx, I know what it's like to have to make sacrifices for your family's sake. It's all right, you don't even know anyone here and couldn't talk to half of them, you'd be miserable."_

"However, I would be with you. I wouldn't call that miserable."

I could practically sense her smile. _"I love hearing you say things like that."_

"I must not say them enough."

_"You don't, but that's all right, just makes them all the sweeter. What are _you_ doing today, dear?"_

"...My sister and brothers made me promise to go to an Independence Day parade."

_"Really?"_

"I know, it's ridiculous."

_"It's _wonderful_! You'll enjoy it."_

"Hmm..."

_"You will. Just don't go alone, silly."_

"My options are rather limited in that respect." Belle, Al, and Adam had all gone home for the summer, and even if I'd _wanted_ anything to do with Zell's crowd, they were gone as well. There wasn't really anyone in town whom I knew well enough to attend such an event with, except for...

_"What about-?"_ She paused. _"Well, probably not."_

I was pretty sure we both had the same person in mind. "Most likely not," I agreed. "But I'll think about it."

_"Good. I don't like the thought of you being lonely, and you two get along well."_ She giggled. _"_Surprisingly_ well."_

"I'd take his company over Zell's, at least; that is certain."

_"You're so funny, love."_ Then, a little unexpectedly for this point in the conversation, _"I miss you."_

Three small words, yet they brought all the unpleasant feelings back. "I miss you, too," I said in a low voice. Then I did not know what to say, and she did not speak either, so that we simply listened to each other's breathing.

_"Jasmine!"_ I heard a woman's voice call in the background, then a couple more sentences in a language I was not familiar with.

Jasmine called back in the same language, then said to me, _"I have to go."_

"I know."

_"Love you."_

"I love you." I could not quite bring myself to end the call - I kept waiting for her end of the line to go dead.

_"Well...good-bye, dear."_

"Good-bye."

_"..."_

"..."

_"Are you still there?"_

I smiled a little. "We're wasting minutes."

_"Hang up, then."_

"Mm..."

I finally heard her shift again as she got out of bed, the sound of her movements and the increased noise as she walked to, I assumed, the kitchen where the bride-to-be and other bridesmaids were. Cheerful greetings rang out. The sound changed so that I guessed she had set the phone to speaker mode, and I heard her call something to them.

There was a sudden shout of several female voices in unison. _"Sabah el kheer, Sa...!"_ Most of them had trouble pronouncing my name.

_"They said Good Morning,"_ Jasmine laughed.

"I surmised. Tell them that I respond in kind." She said something to her friends in their language that caused them all to burst into laughter. There were some individual shouts in a teasing tone, then the sound was a little muted as she returned the phone to its normal mode. "You sound like you're enjoying yourself."

_"It really is fun with just the girls, getting ready for the wedding together."_

"I know you're going to look beautiful."

_"I'll have pictures for you. I wish you could have-"_ She cuts herself off. _"Someday I'll see you at a wedding, Saïx. I know you'll look very handsome."_

...Such a strange thought. Did she mean _our_ wedding? I haven't proposed to her, of course...we haven't talked about it...I haven't even really thought about it...I should be thinking about it, though. We've been dating for almost a year, I should at least be _thinking_ about it. Yet more evidence of my social ignorance; how could I have missed so much growing up? A wedding...maybe she didn't mean our wedding...she could have just meant any wedding, any friends of ours getting married, because I am pleased with where our relationship is now, I don't...relish the thought of it changing, but that's strange, isn't it, people don't usually date like this unless they're at least considering-

_"Are you all right, sweetheart?"_

"What?"

_"The phone static... You're doomgazing again, aren't you."_

They can tell through the _phone static_?

_"I don't think you're angry, so you must be upset. Did I say something wrong?"_

"I...I don't...know what you're talking about." What _were_ we talking about? "You've seen me in a suit before."

_"But not when-"_

They started calling her name again, playfully whining. I was keeping her from her friends. "I'll have to talk to you later, dear."

_"Promise me you'll have fun, all right?"_

"I'll do my best," I managed.

_"Love you."_

"I love you."

_"..."_

"..."

_"I can't hang up on you!"_

"Give the phone to somebody else."

After a pause and some transferring sounds, a woman said something to me in strange words and a warm, sweet tone that made my lack of understanding not matter.

Then she was gone, too.

I sat there for a long time, the silence now more pressing than ever. My chest felt...empty. I had never felt like this before. My life had been _fine_, but then those brothers of mine had showed up to make things difficult and complicated, and they'd made me start liking my sister better, and then once the three of them had all bound me into their little pack, I'd gone to college and instead of my world finally settling down again, it had seemed to explode. I had a _girlfriend_. I had friends, the first friends I'd ever made in my life.

But now all of them were gone, and because they'd forced me to love them, it was painful, as I had known it would be, to lose them. I had known this would happen. Yet they insisted, and now look at me.

I sent a text message to Axel. _"My chest hurts. This is all your fault."_

His response was quick (and obnoxious). _"STILL WORTH IT!"_

_"Why should I take your word for it?"_

_"its true and we lov u lots!"_

Well. It was not, after all, as if they made me do all the work. _"Don't jump off a cliff."_

_"dawww i knew u cared"_

_"I wish I didn't."_

_"go make a new friend"_

_"Bit difficult to do without making eye contact."_ I frightened away most people just by looking at them; even Axel had taken a while to stop hating me. People like my sister or like Jasmine, who could see past the gold and accept me almost at once, were quite rare.

_"SMILE"_

_"You're no help at all."_

Nevertheless, the exchange had cheered me up a bit, so I finally got out of bed and prepared for the day. Then I reached for my phone again.

He sounded impatient when he answered. _"Yes, hello, what is it?"_ He was probably in the middle of a project. He was _always_ in the middle of a project.

"Where are you?" I asked.

_"The library, of course."_ Of course. _"The ONE DAY when it's finally not crowded with riffraff who don't take their studies seriously..."_ I had always thought that I had a rather low opinion of humanity in general, but that had been before I met him.

"Consider this your warning," I said. It was only fair to offer something of the kind, but I didn't want him running off before I could find him.

_"What?"_

I hung up. Made one last check, locked the door behind me, headed down the stairs.

The morning air was refreshing, though of course it was going to get uncomfortably hot later in the day. If we were going to be frolicking about outside, this would be the best time to do it.

I made a purchase on the way to the library, hid it in my bag, then walked inside and found my target happily scribbling away in a notepad, with a laptop sitting nearby and stacks of books taking up the rest of the table.

"Hello, Vexen."

"Oh, it's you," he said absently.

"I made a promise to some people today."

"Could you go away? I'm busy now."

I ignored him and continued. "It will get rather dull fulfilling it by myself, and you're the only option I have on such short notice."

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"Put the books away, we're going to the Independence Day parade."

"Are you mad, Saïx?" he said indignantly. Despite everything, I couldn't help feeling a slight wisp of affection for the vocabulary. We could relate on that level, at least.

"A little harassed, yes, but mad, no. Please don't argue, I'd rather not force you."

"I'm not leaving," he said defiantly. "Surely you don't imagine I would give up this prime opportunity to get some quality work done, do you?"

"Vexen. Let's please pretend that we are normal human beings, just for today."

"Go adopt some canines, or whatever it is you do when you're not interrupting me."

I drew in a deep breath. Even after all this time, I wasn't very good at this...the Speech was so instinctive, I was still not entirely sure how to control it, other than crudely willing negative thoughts at other people. But to tailor what came out of my eyes to make it more effective on those who were accustomed to it...

_'I'm lonely,'_ I thought, hard. _'You're lonely, too. Come with me, leave the dust behind, let's step out into the sunshine together...'_

He was rigid, staring at me. One hand groped unsteadily to drag the notepad closer. "Determination, longing, impatience, affection," he was muttering under his breath, scribbling the words down. Was that what he saw in my eyes? ..._Affection_?

"Surprise, horror, disgust..."

Focus, Saïx. _'Come,'_ I thought again.

It was obviously having an effect on him - he was cringing like most people did whenever I looked at them, or like people who were used to me did when I was angry at them. (Everyone except Axel. Axel, for some reason, seemed to have an almost complete immunity, which could be as much of a relief as it was infuriating.)

"Got it," he finally said triumphantly. "You may cease now." He reached for the computer.

"This isn't an experiment, Vexen. I really do want you to put the books away and accompany me."

"It's a _holiday_!"

"Exactly." Was this what Axel felt like whenever he annoyed me into socializing?

"This is preposterous. I am older than you-" By four months. "-and therefore have seniority, you can't pressure me into participating in something I have no interest in!"

Yet, ten minutes later, we were walking out of the library together, Vexen making a long string of complaints that I did not attempt to stem. I rather thought he was entitled to it.

"...absolutely ridiculous, precious time being wasted, you have _no idea_ how close I am to discovering the-"

I dug out the paper bag of kolaches and silently offered it.

"What is that?"

"Breakfast. Which I assume you didn't eat before dashing off to the library first thing upon awakening."

"How I take care of my body is none of your business," he said haughtily, digging out one of the bread-wrapped sausages.

"I already have to put up with my brother forgetting to feed himself adequately, I really don't need it from you, either. Your face could use some filling out."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Only that he'd grown unhealthily gaunt since the beginning of the summer. It hadn't been nearly this bad when we were still living together - though, granted, when we were roommates, I'd looked after him a lot more than I'd ever expected to have to look after someone my own age. Redirected energies after having gotten so used to taking care of Xion, perhaps...

"No matter. We'll stop by your place so you can drop off your books, then go find out where to register."

"You owe me for this, Saïx."

"Pass the bill to my siblings. It's their fault we're both out here, not being hermits."

"How do you tolerate them?" he wondered, taking another kolache.

"Practice."

"I never had siblings," he said thoughtfully. "I wonder what it would have been like...utterly miserable, I'm sure."

"...Only partially miserable. Then, after a while, you get used to it."

"Fascinating," he said clinically.

When we finally figured out where people, mostly other college students, were gathering to sign up, I drew back behind Vexen and let him do the talking, a habit which my friends were all used to (much as it annoyed some of them).

"Hi!" the young woman with frizzy pigtails said brightly. "Here to sign up for the parade?"

"No," Vexen said bluntly.

"Yes," I corrected, giving him a warning glare.

The girl got a good look at me for the first time and seemed to freeze. I lowered my gaze to the ground again.

"My associate here is forcing me to participate," Vexen sulked.

"Ask for the clipboard," I growled.

Vexen held out his hand imperiously. She handed the sign-up sheet over without a word, her eyes still fixed on me. He signed his name in an illegible scrawl, then handed the registry to me. _Saïx Acerbi_, I wrote. I snapped a picture with my phone and texted the proof to my brother. _"There, are you satisfied now?"_

_"yaaaaaaayyyyyyy send us pix of u in parade later k? rox says hi xi says ilu"_

_"You three are impossible."_ I looked up to find the girl still staring at me, as Vexen took notes on her reaction.

"Your eyes," she whispered. "They're very..."

"Yes?" Vexen said eagerly when she failed to finish her sentence. "Very what? What descriptor would you use for them, exactly?"

With a mental sigh, I folded my arms, looked her in the face for the first time, and waited. ...And remembered my brother's advice to smile, so I did.

She gulped. "Th-They're amazing," she said nervously.

"_Really_?" Vexen laughed. "That's an unusual one. Fascinating..."

"My girlfriend likes them, too," I tried. I've found that saying such things sometimes has favorable results.

Sure enough, her eyes widened. "You have a _girlfriend_?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, we were not able to be together today, so I'll have to do something nice to make it up to her later."

Her face changed to that expression of wonder that it always does whenever they...'unlock' me, as Xion would put it. I quickly looked away. Sometimes I don't know which is worse, the way they cower in terror or the way they seem to be able to read my mind. I wish so often that I was _normal_.

"Ohhh...can I?"

I quickly moved back out of reach. "No. Please." Call me unreasonable, but I do not like it when complete strangers try to touch my face. It seems to be a natural reaction with the women, especially. "...She wouldn't like it." Jasmine would think it was amusing, actually, but she wasn't here right now.

The girl actually giggled, her previous fear of me gone. "Sorry. Didn't mean to pester you. Oh! I sure did get distracted; here you go!" She rummaged around in a box and handed each of us a sash and a flag. "Just put these on, and then you can go wait over there with the others. There's refreshments, feel free to enjoy yourselves and get to know everyone! We'll be starting in about an hour."

We did not exactly 'get to know everyone,' but after a while I stopped 'hiding' (as Axel would have put it) and ventured to initiate conversation. With a woman I had long known from her job at a coffee shop near my old dorm building, but still. She was a talkative person who soothed her nervous friends and readily accepted us into her circle, so that the time passed reasonably pleasant enough.

"Why aren't you back home with that adorable little brother and sister of yours? Sounded like they miss you whenever you're gone."

"My academic performance warranted boosting..."

She laughed. "You always have such a funny way of talking. And you, sugar? You taking summer school too, or just working?"

Vexen stared. I was willing to bet that he had never been called 'sugar' in his life before.

"Vexen is also enrolled in summer session. We used to be roommates, back at Tram."

"Is _that_ so! Well, I remember you now, honey; only you had a bit more meat on your bones, then..."

"What is she saying?" Vexen asked me blankly, as if she was speaking a different language.

"You need to eat more."

In the general shuffle and confusion of the parade's start, I lost track of our pre-event companions, and reached out to grasp hold of Vexen's shirt without thinking.

He stared at me. "What are you doing?"

I quickly let go. _'Trying not to lose you.'_ "Let's move farther up where there's less people."

"I feel ridiculous, wearing this thing." He tugged contemptuously at the patriotic sash that had been slung over one shoulder.

"Well, so do I, but we'll look stranger if we're _not_ festive." I took a photo for my siblings' sake. _"Satisfied with my humiliation?"_

_"totally smokin!"_

"You do engage in quite a lot of contact with those siblings of yours," Vexen observed.

"They don't leave me alone otherwise."

"Has it occurred to you that this kind of thing only encourages them?"

"They're annoying either way." Not really. Not anymore. I spoke out of habit... "I'd just prefer them to be in a good mood when they pester me rather than an unpleasant one."

"Sensible enough, I suppose."

Everyone was walking now. The noise was a little overwhelming, with a roar of cheering from the people lining the road, happy shouts back and forth, and noisemakers blaring. This was not exactly my element. I waved and tried to smile and tried to not look directly at anyone.

"It's such a pointless celebration, if you think about it," Vexen was lecturing at my side. "People would do much better to actually _research_ this nation's history and delve into all the primary sources and later analyses of the revolution, rather than gathering together just to make noise and consume junk food and waste time putting up all these decorations that will just end up in landfills, such as this flag, for example, if you consider just the plastic handle, the energy and resources that went into its manufacture and its environmental impact after being thrown away, obviously added up with all the other plastic trivialities just like it..."

I started tuning him out pretty early on. It became this strange sort of dreamlike experience, walking on and on with the endless noise on all sides and my companion staying close, rambling on in a soothing drone...

I was trying hard not to look at anyone, so my eyes inevitably ended up focusing on the road much of the time instead. I saw the child - a girl, so tiny, toddling about with pink clips fastened in her smooth black hair - before anyone else did, wandering unsupervised too close to the wheel of the float in front of us. Abruptly tripping, falling in the wheel's path-

"That child-" Vexen started to say, but I was already scooping her up in my arms.

She burst into tears. I found myself trembling just a little, to my annoyance, since it was involuntary. Just...realizing how close she had come to harm...the memory of my own tiny sister so strong in my mind...

"Boo boo," the child said dolefully, trying to get a look at her bloodied knees.

"You'll be all right," I said quietly. The scrapes were not deep, the blood was smeared widely across her skin but already drying. I looked around for an adult or older child she should belong to, but no one looked frantic or even concerned. We were still walking. I looked back, but though a few people were staring at us in mild, detached concern, no one seemed suitably alarmed. I don't think anyone other than Vexen and I even realized she had been bleeding; my arms covered most of it.

"Who on earth does she belong to?" Vexen was saying in outrage. "Letting small children run loose like that, completely irresponsible, as if this isn't inconvenient enough without things going _wrong_ on top of that..."

The girl raised her head and met my eyes for the first time. I found myself cringing in anticipation, looking away again. She gave a little gasp.

"Puppy!"

_'Why. WHY does this sort of thing happen to me so often nowadays. This is Axel's fault.'_

The child gurgled in delight and reached up.

"Vexen," I said, "I have a suggestion for a future experiment."

"What would that be?"

"Find out why so many females who 'unlock my doomgaze' try to touch my face directly afterward."

"I'll consider it," he said with mild interest, watching as the girl happily patted me with her chubby toddler hands. I gave her my flag in an attempt to distract her.

She was a good-humored child, seeming to forget entirely about her injuries as she played with the flag and with my hair and sash, and eventually got a little too active for me to keep hold of. We got her to the clinic station none too soon, I was more than half afraid that she would give us the slip before then, despite the fact that both Vexen and I were entirely focused on her.

"Puppy! Play!" She threw the flag across the grass as if she expected me to fetch it.

I sighed heavily. "Will she be all right?" I asked the nurse who kept eyeing me warily as she rinsed the dried blood from the child's skin.

"I should say so, these don't look serious. Just keep them clean and covered like you'd do with any scrape..."

I didn't bother correcting our relation to the child as I went to retrieve the little flag to give back to her.

The nurse had just finished bandaging her up when her guardians finally came bursting in on us, a huge man with a blue and purple hat, and a much smaller man wearing a green T-shirt with a huge single eye pictured on the front.

"Boo!"

"_There_ you are!"

_'Boo?'_ I hadn't thought that any child's name could surpass 'Rox-my-socks' in ridiculousness, but apparently it was possible.

"Daddy! Uncle Mike!" she said happily as they scooped her up and practically smothered her in joyful relief. Then they rounded on us before we could slip away, but before things could get too awkward or heated, the girl...Boo...wriggled out of her father's arms and trotted over to me.

"Puppy, here." She thrust the flag at me proudly.

She was too young to understand, so I accepted it from her and then offered it again, resting across both open palms. "It's yours. Take it, Boo." It was not like I would have any need of the thing in the future.

She picked the little flag off my hands, inspected it for a moment, then grinned and waved it in my face.

The two men were watching me. "Who did you fellas say you were again?"

"My name is Saïx."

"Puppy!"

"My friend is Vexen," I said, ignoring Boo's humiliating declarations as best as I could.

"Former roommate," Vexen corrected.

"Friend." I looked him in the eye. "Because if not for me, you wouldn't have _any_ friends, Vexen, so I would advise you to take what you can get."

"Hmph, I have no need of friends."

"You know what, I used to think that, also. I don't anymore. Don't learn it the hard way, Vexen."

Boo's father and uncle were still watching us, now exchanging thoughtful looks. "Saïx and Vexen, eh?"

"Much obliged for looking after the munchkin, you know."

"You're welcome," I said.

Boo threw the flag again. "Puppy get stick!"

I tried not to sigh audibly.

"So if you boys don't have any plans, whaddaya say to coming along with us to the company picnic we're having over in Cloudsfair Park?"

Which was how I ended up with two strangers, my cranky former roommate, and a little girl named Boo at a picnic for a company I'd never heard of on the Fourth of July. With Boo sitting in my lap, happily eating a sandwich and dripping blackberry jam all over my clothes, Sully laughing loudly enough to hurt my ears, and Vexen and Mike arguing about something trivial, I raised my phone again to take another picture.

_"I made some new friends. What do you think?"_ I texted Axel along with the photo.

_"SO PROUD OF U SAISAI!"_

_"Shut up."_

"Toy?" Boo said interestedly, and I hurriedly lifted my phone out of reach of her sticky fingers.

"No, not a toy. Here, take the sash."

"This is why I don't talk to amateurs," Vexen stormed under his breath, pointedly going over to sit on my other side. "No idea what they're talking about."

"Vexen, it's a picnic," I told him. "You're supposed to be enjoying yourself, not getting into fights with your hosts." I glanced over at the righteously sulking Mike, who seemed to be mollified when Sully offered him some cookies.

"Cookie!" Boo shrieked eagerly, and Sully handed me one which I in turn let her have.

"Who says I'm not enjoying myself?" Vexen snorted. "He may be an idiot, but he brought up several valid points which I _need to prove wrong_, and I think I have an idea of how to go about it..."

I smiled a little. "Happy Independence Day, Vexen."

"What? Oh. Happy Independence Day, Saïx, or whatever it is you want to hear."

"Cookie?" Boo offered, holding one in Vexen's face. He stared at it.

"Just think, Vexen. You would have never gotten to eaten that cookie if I hadn't dragged you out here to celebrate."

"Well, _obviously_." He plucked the cookie out of Boo's hand. "I hope you're not expecting me to thank you."

"You could thank Boo, at least."

"Hmph."

"Thank you, Boo," I said for him.

"Yay! Puppy get stick!" Once more, the flag went sailing out into the grass.

"Vexen: new experiment. See if we can teach Boo how to say my name properly."

"Heh, challenge accepted."

o.o.o

Author's Notes: **Uh...so I looked it up, and apparently the things that restaurants in my city call "kolaches" are not real kolaches in their country of origin. *sweatdrop* Basically, kolaches are desserts with fruit fillings, but there are several places where I live that sell sausages in bread and call them "kolaches."**

Apparently, Beast's real name is not mentioned anywhere except in some obscure computer game. It's Adam. XD

I seriously need to re-watch _Monsters, Inc._

Oh, and THIS actually counts as the first time I've written Vexen positively, since last time was technically Even (whom I like better). ^^ Though...you could argue that I still haven't written _canon_!Vexen positively yet... *sweatdrop*

Speaking of Vexen, I have a feeling he'll be characterized differently at this point in time in the main series - he's supposed to be closer to Belle and the others, for example. For this fic, however, I wrote him in a way that was more suitable, which was okay because this is an AU.


	2. Bound by Moonlight, Saïx and Roxas: Saïx

Bound by Fire & Moon Light

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl

Introduction: ... orz The short version is that _Bound by Fire_ and the omake are for Tali, _Bound by Moonlight_ is because I have OCD, and (aside from those) if/when I write non-_Stepsiblings_ AkuSaiRokuShi stories, I'll just toss them in here. *sweatdrop* **Also, stupid title is stupid,** but I couldn't help it, the _patterns_! DX

_**Bound by Moonlight**_**, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl**

**Part 1 of 5: Saïx and Roxas (rough draft)**

_For Saïx/Roxas Day, 13 July 2012_

Summary: Saïx is forced to play nursemaid.

A/N: _Stepsiblings_ AU (because Saïx actually took care of Xion when she got sick as a kid, and is therefore not clueless like he is in this story). Saïx's POV. Takes place soon after _The Scent of Vanilla_.

o.o.o

I was a little surprised that Axel actually _tore himself away from Roxas_ for several hours when the boy was ill, but...well, he compensated. He had already promised Xion a "date" with just the two of them - it was supposed to make up for having "abandoned" her a couple of weeks ago when he'd been angry at me for not telling him we were going to visit Mother. He had stormed off with Roxas and apparently spent half the night wandering around town with their cousins, and when I told him how upset Xion had been at being left behind, he had immediately sworn she would get "the princess treatment."

So now the two of them were out, and Roxas was sick, and Axel had forced me to act as his substitute, but as soon as he'd left the driveway his mother had barred me from Roxas's room, but Roxas still kept calling for me, and I just _wanted everyone to leave me alone so I could finish this essay in peace_.

Lea's cell phone rang. I heard her go downstairs to answer it, continued to hear her ranting in a low voice as she paced the rooms down there.

"Axel," Roxas called again, sounding on the verge of tears.

I sighed deeply, set _Lord of the Flies_ down yet again, and trudged back to his room. "For the tenth time, Axel is not here."

"Why aren't you?" he sobbed dryly, reaching for me. I took his hand and held it until he fell back asleep. Then I could hear Lea thundering up the stairs, so I hurried back to my room before she could catch me in the vicinity of her "precious."

I tried to resume work, but she was making so much noise, it was distracting. Closet and bathroom doors slamming, water running, a sound like metal links hitting tile, muffled curses-

This was fruitless. I finally shut the laptop and went downstairs to find something to eat. _'I knew I should have gone with Ralph, there is not _nearly_ enough material on the twins to flesh out the thesis. I've only got 500 words so far, how in the world am I going to double that...?'_

Lea came galloping back downstairs again. "Saïx!" she shouted.

It took me a moment to respond - I was so unused to her calling for me.

"SAIX, get out here _now_!"

Well, if she insisted. I got up, and we nearly collided unexpectedly at the kitchen threshold. She shrieked in frightened surprise and shoved her purse over my eyes so hard that my back hit the wall.

There was a long pause. "Did you need me for something?" I asked, still blinded.

"I'm going out," she said tightly. "Don't tell Xem or Axel." She paused. "Or Xion. Or anyone."

I was not going to promise. "You're going to leave Roxas when he's ill?"

She pressed the purse harder against my face. "You had _better_ not let anything bad happen to him," she hissed. "If you do, I'll..."

She made a threat to my anatomy that might have bothered me if I'd thought she had any chance of actually carrying it out.

"Noted."

"I'll be back later."

"All right."

"...Shut your eyes."

"Fine."

She backed off cautiously. When I opened my eyes, she was giving me a wary look from the entryway. Our gazes only met for a moment before she whirled and practically fled for the front door.

As soon as she was gone and I had cleaned and straightened my glasses, I went back upstairs to see how my younger brother was faring. He was awake again, crying despondently. As soon as he saw me, he reached out both arms in a desperate way and said, with much difficulty, "Saïx...I don't...feel...good..."

I sat down on the edge of the bed and only meant to take his hand again, but he practically draped himself across my lap and hugged me tightly, crying with no restraint this time.

"..." I finally patted his head, not sure what else to do. "Axel will be back soon..." Hopefully.

"I...don't feel...good..."

I looked at the medicines on the bedside table and picked them up to read the labels. After studying them carefully, I finally asked, "How, exactly, do you not feel well?"

"I don't...feel good..."

"Yes, Roxas, I am aware of this. I'm asking you _how_."

"Saïx...help..."

I sighed. "That is what I'm trying to do at this moment, Roxas. Is it your head that hurts?"

"...My head...my stomach...everything..."

Well, 'everything' was not helpful. "Roxas, this bottle is for inflammatory pain. This one is for nausea, and these are vitamins. This one is a decongestant, and this one is a sleep aid. _I don't know which one to give you_ unless you explain to me _exactly what is wrong_."

He just kept crying, without even attempting to answer this time. I finally sighed and pulled out my phone. I did not dare call Axel to tell him that the center of his universe was suffering, so after some thought, I called his aunt and uncle's house instead.

_"Hello?"_

"Hello, Terra. It's Saïx."

_"Hey, what's up!"_

"A lot. Is Ella home? I need to speak with her urgently..."

_"No, she's actually out right now; sorry, kiddo."_ I would never get used to Axel's relatives' nicknames and endearments for me. _"Is someone crying?"_

"It's Roxas... He's ill, no one else is home, and I am...not...prepared to handle this."

"Axel," Roxas wailed.

_"Man, sounds rough. What's his temperature?"_

"...I have no idea." Terra started to walk me through it, but Roxas was not cooperative, and I had not successfully gotten the thermometer into his mouth before he suddenly pushed my hand away again and emptied his stomach all over both of us, the bed, and the floor.

I stared, unable to react for a while. Roxas wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "I feel better now," he said tiredly. He laid his head back against me and went to sleep.

"...Terra." I certainly _did not_ intend for that to come out sounding like a whimper.

Terra was _laughing_. I was sorely tempted to hang up on him, but I still - desperately - needed his help. _"Well, at least he's not crying anymore."_

"T...e...rra..."

_"Did he get any on you?"_

"It's EVERYWHERE."

More laughing.

"I AM NOT AMUSED BY THIS, and I see no reason why you should be, either."

_"Geez, okay! What are you doing, doomgazing the phone?"_

What?

_"Okay, look, sorry to break it to you, Sai, but you're going to have to clean things up, and your hands are gonna get dirty."_

This is all Axel's fault and I'm going to kill him.

I managed to get both Roxas and myself into clean clothes, and to put fresh sheets on the bed. _"Get him to brush his teeth, too; it's not good to leave that stuff in his mouth."_

Roxas was incredibly peevish and uncooperative upon being awakened again, and as I held him over the sink with my hand gripped around his, practically brushing his teeth for him as he screamed threats around the toothbrush, I prayed that no one would pick this moment to return home. They didn't, fortunately.

The carpet was harder to clean. _"Ella always tells me to press, don't scrub."_

"I've tried pressing AND scrubbing, it's _not coming out_. I am also doing an impressive job of not mentioning the smell."

It did not help when Roxas started crying again. "Saïx...my head hurts..."

When was Axel going to come back. _When_.

Once I felt comfortable enough to hang up for the last time, I sat back down with Roxas and set my palm against his forehead to gauge his temperature. He reached up and pressed my hand even harder against his head. "Your hand is cold," he murmured appreciatively.

"...Let me wet the cloth again."

"Don't go away..."

"I'll be right back." I went to run the washcloth under the faucet in the bathroom, and found Roxas crying softly when I came back. "I'm _right here_," I said in exasperation.

"Saïx, I don't feel good."

"If you're going to throw up again, do it in the bucket, please."

"Saïx, I want to play."

"You can't."

"I KNOW I can't!" he screamed. "I'm too sick to play and I'm dying and I want Axel and Mommy and I _hate it_!"

"You're not dying. Don't cry."

"Saïx...read me a story..."

I confess I was tempted to go fetch _Lord of the Flies_, but that would be unduly cruel. "Nothing with ponies."

"Read me the bat book."

"What?"

"You know. The one where she loses her mom and she falls in the birds' nest and they all become brothers and sisters."

So I read _Stellaluna_ to him, then a few chapters of something called _The Mouse and the Motorcycle_, until I grew hoarse and looked up to find him asleep again. His skin still felt hot, but he seemed to be doing all right for now.

I brought my laptop and settled down by Roxas's bed to finally get back to work. Something about all this felt familiar...

o.o.o

Author's Notes: Because Saïx already took care of sick Roxas in _Christmas at the Castle_. XD

Heh, the only reason this got written and posted on time is because today I was stuck in a waiting room for an hour or two with a notebook and pen. I don't have high hopes for SaiShi Day tomorrow, unless I stumble across a much shorter plunny.

**Ftr, I do not condone one's "center of the universe" being anyone or anything other than the obvious. Again, though, I write according to character flow, not according to my own beliefs.**

Roxas didn't literally think he was dying, but I couldn't figure out how to word it in a way that clarified that but was still IC.


	3. Daughters of the Heart: Xem

_**Stepsiblings**_**, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl**

**Daughters of the Heart (rough draft)**

_DeviantArt 1,000 pageviews kiriban for Kasan (Kasan Soulblade)!_

Summary: Xion makes a new friend at the park.

A/N: Xem's POV. (So is the Xem/Roxas Day fic for January 13th, btw, but neither of them are 'Xem's story.') Xion is nine, Naminé is eight. It's POSSIBLE that this isn't an AU, but I'm not sure yet, so I'm posting it here just to be safe; it's also a crossover with _Studied Sketches_, lol. XD Full backstory at the end.

o.o.o

A man with young children should schedule time to spend with them at regular intervals, no matter how busy he is or how much they insist on wasting said time. I did my best, but it was difficult - even the smallest sacrifices tended to have unpleasant repercussions at work, and my wife's needs came before my children's. Therefore, I missed more turns than I knew I should, and so did not think it fair to completely refuse when my daughter requested a day from me.

"Just you and me, aaaalllll day."

"I will promise you a few hours tomorrow afternoon, Xion."

"Oh. Okay. I love you, Daddy," she said as usual, but then added that she would not embrace me until I actually fulfilled my promise.

"Very well. I will see you at dinner." At least, I hoped so. Fridays were usually when everyone fell behind the most, and not many of my co-workers stayed long enough to ensure that the week's work was completed.

"Bye, Daddy," she said, kissing my nose. I stood up and patted her head, making sure she went to sit down with her class before I returned to my car.

The next day, I had trouble trying to determine how Xion wanted to spend her time with me. "You'll have to specify which one, Xion. We cannot do both."

"Oh, I don't care, as long as I get to be with you."

"...That is not an answer."

"I dunno. The museum?"

"Very well."

"Yay! I love you, Daddy!"

Yet she did not seem to be overly interested in most of the exhibits. When I tried to read the explanations to her or add information from my own store of knowledge, her attention appeared to be given merely out of politeness, and she was easily distracted. She seemed to take more pleasure in taking hold of my hands to swing them in undignified ways, or ask me whether I liked the exhibits rather than what they were about.

"Xion, are you truly interested in this?"

"Ooooh, that lady's naked! Daddy, what happened to her arms?"

"It's artistic nudity, and the statue is very old, Xion. It has endured much trauma and was not well cared for before it was brought here."

"Aren't they ever gonna glue her arms back on?"

"Xion..."

I eventually gave up and decided to leave early, in hopes of finding another occupation to suit her better. She has always been exceedingly fond of ice cream, so I bought her some in hopes she would enjoy it more, which she did.

"Daddy, what's your favorite ice cream flavor?"

"I have told you many times, Xion, I do not have one."

"_Everybody_ has a favorite ice cream flavor. Me and Roxas and Axel all like sea-salt, and I know Saïx does, too."

"Sea-salt ice cream is admittedly not unpleasant," I acknowledged, gesturing with my own bar of it, "but I am not generally fond of sweets and so cannot have a 'favorite.' A least disliked, perhaps."

"Fine, what's your least disliked?" she asked in an indulgent sort of way.

"...Sea-salt, I suppose," I finally replied, since I could not think of anything else to say.

We passed a park, which was crowded with children and their parents. Not unusual for a weekend afternoon. Noticing the way Xion was watching them, I asked, "Would you like to go play in the park for a while?"

"Oh, yes, Daddy! We can really go?"

"I would not have asked your preference if I was not going to allow you to go."

I surveyed the area as we approached, noting that there were no empty benches - all of them were filled, mostly with gossiping women. I did notice one bench occupied by a male, a short man with long dark hair styled over his face. He appeared to be reading and annotating a packet of papers, as a girl who looked to be about Xion's age leaned against him, drawing on a sketchpad.

Before I could stop her, my daughter ran to accost them. "Are you in time-out?" she asked the girl, who gave her a startled look.

"Xion," I warned sharply.

"What?" the girl said in confusion.

"Naminé is not in trouble," the man said quietly.

"Oh. Why aren't you playing, then?"

"Umm...I'm drawing."

"Can I see?"

"Xion, you should not be pestering strangers," I said, but the girl, 'Naminé' apparently, was already shifting her sketchpad so that Xion could look at it.

"Oh! That's you, right?"

"Yes, this is me playing with my brother," Naminé explained. "Because we can't play together in real life..."

"Why not?"

The girl glanced questioningly at her father.

"Xion," I said, "come _here_ and leave them alone."

She began to shuffle back to me, but then the man said quietly, "She's causing no harm. We don't mind if she stays."

"See, Daddy?" Xion said triumphantly, making me sigh. "What's your brother's name?"

"Lee. Daddy, may I please show her the picture?"

"...All right."

He seemed reluctant, so I said, "Xion is perfectly capable of minding her own business."

"No...it's all right, really." Then, to Xion, "This is Lee, with his mother and I."

"Where's Naminé?"

"They took the picture before I found Daddy," Naminé explained cryptically. "Isn't Lee pretty?"

"Yes," Xion giggled. "My brothers are pretty, too. You wanna come play, Naminé?"

"Umm..."

Her father set a hand on her head. "Naminé, do whatever you like. We're here for your enjoyment, after all."

"Will you be okay, Daddy?"

He smiled a little. "I think I can manage."

She kissed him, then got to her feet and hesitantly edged closer to Xion, who asked, "You're not gonna bring your notebook, are you?"

Naminé looked down at her sketchpad, clutching it harder and not saying anything.

"Naminé," her father asked gently, "would you like to trust it to my keeping until you're ready to have it again?"

"...Okay, Daddy. Don't drop it or let anyone take it away or tear it, okay?"

It was he who kissed her this time, touching his lips to her forehead in a reassuring manner. "It will be safe with me."

"Okay."

Once the item was out of her possession, she drew in a deep breath, then smiled in a slightly startled way when Xion took her hand. "Come on, Naminé!" They ran together toward the playground.

With nothing better to do, I took a seat on the far end of the bench and withdrew some files from my briefcase. These I began to go over for a little while, until I realized that the man beside me was no longer occupying himself with his own work. I glanced up to find him staring at me. "Is there a problem?" I asked.

"I- No... No, there's not...a problem..."

Perhaps he judged me to be rude. I held out a hand. "My name is Xem."

"I'm Zexion."

I thought that shaking hands would be the end of it, but even after I returned to work, I had difficulty concentrating because of his continued intense attention. Losing my patience, I turned to face him again and Spoke slightly. "If there is a problem, please clarify at once so that I may do my best to remedy it." _"I give you a warning to keep your distance."_

"Your eyes," he gasped. I certainly did not expect him to suddenly scoot closer to me, raising a hand in wonder. "They're _fascinating_."

"I beg your pardon?" I realized that I was leaning away - there was no other option if I wanted to remain seated, since I was already sitting as close to the edge as I could.

"The color itself is of great interest, assuming they're not contacts...?"

"This is my natural eye color. Please keep your distance from me."

"Forgive me, I didn't mean to cause you discomfort, but- It's extraordinary, I could have sworn..."

_"Stay away,"_ I Spoke, more forcefully this time.

"There it is again! It's almost like you can communicate without speech."

"...I do not wish to discuss this matter."

"Your hair is an unusual color, as well...it doesn't look to be dyed or a wig." There was a questioning tone at the end of his sentence.

"I have not artificially altered my appearance in any way, and frankly, I don't see how it's any of your business."

"Apologies...I have an interest in genetics... Your daughter, Xion?"

"Yes."

"She's dark-haired and blue-eyed-"

"I adopted her when she was quite young," I said shortly.

"How very interesting. Naminé is not mine by birth, as well; she came into my care less than a year ago."

That explained their own contrasting coloring, I suppose. "Forgive me, but I do not share your interest in genetics. I have work to do." I gestured at the files.

"Yes, of course..."

Though he was no longer staring at me, I could sense his restlessness for a while. Eventually however, his presence beside me seemed to grow still, and I was able to progress in peace at least temporarily.

"...Your little girl is so good-hearted," I heard him say softly.

I looked over to find him watching the children. Naminé was standing uncertainly at the edge of one of the climbing platforms, with my daughter on the ground, holding up her arms and calling, "Jump, Naminé! I'll catch you!"

"XION!" I shouted, both with words and the Speech. She was going to get both of them injured with her foolishness.

She flinched, then said something I could not hear. Naminé sat down in response and carefully slid to the ground, steadied by her new friend as soon as her feet touched the grass. They exchanged some more words, then Xion took her hand again and they ran off together.

"She just came straight up to her to make friends," Zexion continued, sounding almost awed. "I've been worried about Naminé...she doesn't have much opportunity to interact with people her own age, and I know she was bullied in school before I withdrew her."

"You teach her at home?"

"Yes. Well - at work. Sometimes we're not able to come home very often, but she's so unobtrusive and obedient, her presence no longer troubles any of my co-workers. Still...a child her age needs friends among her peers, and Naminé doesn't make them easily. I've been doing some research...I think this relative isolation of ours is not good for her social development."

"Hm...I know what you mean..."

"With Xion?"

"No - my son. He is not very...skilled in making himself appealing to others." It was incredible to me that his control of the Speech was still virtually non-existent. Perhaps it was not fair to judge him in comparison to Van, who was something of a prodigy, but my brother and I had both learned to consciously shape the Speech long before we were Xion's age, and could Shield with complete effectiveness by the time we reached high school.

Saïx's reclusiveness was of small matter to me, since he seemed to enjoy it, and his sister and stepbrothers were more than disruptive enough to his tranquility. However, his complete disinterest in courtship or even its baser aspects was more cause for concern... Axel was at least always talking about one girl or another, though none of them ever stayed in his good graces for long; my brother, as a teenager, could make himself quite charming, and even Van occasionally showed a superficial interest in the other sex, despite never seeming to take his duty seriously. I myself had disregarded my general distaste for the situation and done my best. Kay had not been the sole possibility for my first wife.

Saïx, however...not only did he make no effort at all except in response to my direct commands, but his failure to use the Speech properly turned away almost anyone who merely met his eyes. It occurred to me that if not for his own family, he might be living in an even more isolated state than this girl, Naminé.

"I can see why they found her an attractive target," I remarked after watching her for a while.

"What do you mean?" Zexion asked keenly.

The girls suddenly came hurtling toward us as fast as they could run, Xion in the lead. She dragged herself to a stop by seizing me, calling gleefully over her shoulder, "Safe!"

Naminé soon came panting up. "Safe?" she repeated in bewilderment.

"Daddy's safe. You can't tag me when I'm touching him," Xion explained.

"Oh." Naminé went over to take hold of her own father. "Now I'm safe with my daddy, too."

Xion laughed and did not bother to correct her. Zexion lifted a hand to stroke his daughter's hair.

"Daddy," Xion asked, "are you making friends with Naminé's daddy?"

"I wouldn't call it that."

"We've been discussing some things of interest to both of us," Zexion said.

Naminé met my eyes for the first time, and we studied each other for a while. "You're pretty," she finally whispered, though not as if she was entirely pleased by this.

Ignoring the indignity of her observation, I reached out to draw her closer. Her physical demeanor was starting to annoy me. "Straighten up, don't hunch your shoulders like that." I took hold of them to demonstrate. "Raise your chin. Keep your head up, you miss important things when you're only looking at the ground."

She was staring at me, wide-eyed.

"When you make yourself look too vulnerable, others think they can take advantage of it. Xion, push her."

Her mouth came open in surprise. "What?"

"Do as I say."

Xion uncertainly tapped her palms against the other girl's back. I doubted that Naminé even felt it. Impatiently, I set a hand against the girl's shoulder and applied enough force to send her stumbling to the side. "Is it all right for others to subject you to such treatment?"

She stared at the ground silently, curled up more pathetically than ever. It was like she was deliberately making herself a target.

"You're supposed to say no, Naminé," Xion whispered loudly.

I began to Speak. _"Lift your head. If you hide, they will always find you. Turn and fight before you are destroyed."_ She lifted her eyes to meet mine, making it easier. _"They've sketched a false image of you, but that is not yourself, you must cast it away. Find your true strength, for you have great need of it. It is _there_."_

"No," she whispered, finally answering the question I had asked aloud.

"_Tell_ me," I commanded.

Slightly to my surprise, her eyes suddenly narrowed. She planted her hands on my knees and shouted up at me, "No! It's not okay! Don't push me!"

The newborn fire in those blue eyes of hers made me smile. "Not perfect, but it is admittedly a great improvement. Well done."

"You did it, Naminé!" Xion praised, even though she surely could not have much idea what we were talking about.

Naminé gave us a small smile in return and retreated a single step to take her father's hand. I realized that she had such little distance to cross because he was now looming very near to us, an almost threatening expression on his face. "Daddy, I don't like it when the other boys and girls are mean to me," she murmured.

"We'll see what we can do about that," he said guardedly, searching my face. I gazed back without resisting. He finally turned away from me and smiled at his golden-haired child. "There's something I want to read with you when we return home. And I have an idea now of what I should probably look up next."

"Okay," she said readily.

I stood up and reached for my daughter's hand. "Come, Xion. It's time for us to leave."

"Oh, Daddy, just five more min-?" She broke off upon seeing my expression. She wavered for a moment, looking near tears, then suddenly whirled and threw her arms around Naminé, hugging her tightly. "I'll miss you a lot, Naminé."

"I hope we can play again soon," Naminé said soothingly, unable to move but looking content within the crushing embrace.

Zexion pulled out a card and held it out to me. "We only visit this city occasionally, but the next time we do stop by, may I...give you a call...?"

I wanted to refuse, but watching our two girls embracing as if they were sisters on the brink of an eternal separation, I knew that Xion would pester me to no end if I did not take steps now. I sighed and handed over my own business card. "Very well." Then, when she showed no sign of bringing the overdone display of affection to a close, "_Come_, Xion!"

I had to practically drag her away, she insisted on walking at an awkward angle in order to wave goodbye for as long as her new friend was in sight. Naminé stood with her father and waved back.

"Daddy," Xion said on the way home, "I really like Naminé."

"Clearly."

"Can we play again soon?"

"Perhaps."

"Can we bring Roxas next time? And Saïx and Axel?"

"Xion, I don't know. This address is in an entirely different city, it's possible you may not see Naminé very often at all."

"...I'm gonna see her again."

"If you are motivated enough to pursue it, this desire of yours is not impossible to achieve."

"That meant yes, right?"

"Essentially, that is correct."

"Good."

o.o.o

Author's Notes: I think I'll change Naminé's terms of address for her parents in SS to "Papa" and "Mama" or something, so that she doesn't have two "Daddies." (And in case you don't know, "Lee" is Repliku.) And ftr, Zexion took Naminé out of school because he was disgusted by what he considered to be a trashy curriculum. XD

Xem is surprisingly easy for me to write...he's pretty much how Saïx would have ended up if Sai's siblings hadn't worked on him. ^^;;; (Again, NOT CANON XEMNAS. StepsibsXem is either an OC based on Xemnas or a very OOC Xemnas.)

Soooooooo, I suck at answering requests - unless, _apparently_, you ask for something in the Stepsibsverse, which makes my muse leap up with joy and kick me in the head with ideas 'til I write them out to get her to shut up again so I can actually do what I was supposed to be doing. ^^;;;;;;;;;;;;; I'm so freaking glad Kasan ended up having a DevArt account and could (accidentally?) claim the DA kiriban...

I originally had zero backstory for Naminé, and I was keeping Zexion in reserve until the right opportunity - he's too valuable a character to waste in a casual mention and then discover later that I actually needed him somewhere else. Then Kasan asked for an SSZexion/StepsibsXem crossover, since they both adopted little girls, and whooooo, apparently my muse has decided that _Studied Sketches_ is Naminé's backstory in the Stepsibsverse now - except for the fact that I'd already had an idea for an SS sequel which won't fit with _Stepsiblings_. (Ftr, this sequel was _also_ inspired by Kasan. XD SS was supposed to be a standalone, dang it! *playfully shakes fist*)

SO, I am going to say that _Studied Sketches_ has a timeline that diverges into two alternate futures, one being _Stepsiblings_ and the other being the sequel that I might or might not ever get to write. (More specifically, AkuRokuShi's role in it, since the ZekuNami still works.) At the moment, SS itself fits just fine in the Stepsibsverse, so unless I do end up needing Zexion elsewhere, I'll assume that he and Naminé have the exact same backstory in Stepsibs that they did in SS.

Sorry if I confused the heck out of anyone... Basically, reading _Studied Sketches_ will make Zexion's and Naminé's appearances in _Stepsiblings_ make more sense.


	4. Her Eighteenth: Axel

_**Stepsiblings**_**, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl**

**Her Eighteenth (rough draft) [censored version]**

Summary: Axel & Xion head out to celebrate her eighteenth birthday.

A/N: Axel's POV.

This drabble (like most of the _Stepsiblings_ stories I write that take place far in the future) _might_ be able to fit in the main universe, but I'm not sure yet because I haven't written all the stuff that happens between the time Xi & Rox are little and the time they're teenagers.

o.o.o

Okay, you know what, I've been trying to ride the bus to and from work to save money, but it's the middle of January and this is SO NOT WORKING FOR ME, I suddenly decide I'd rather give up groceries than have to keep giving up gas so I'm gonna do that from now on, but dang it doesn't help when I'm standing here freezing my butt off maybe literally and probably dying here leaning against a tree because there's too many people sitting on the bench and I'm about to fall over and die because I am SO FRIGGIN' COLD.

I wanna move. To somewhere warm, with nice weather where it never snows. I bet I could get Sai to come with me, but I'd lose Rox and Xi and my girl would probably look at me like I'm crazy if I asked her to move somewhere warm with me, and GAAAAHHHH I'll give up groceries but I won't give up my family but IT IS SO DANG FRICKIN' COLD I'M GONNA DIE.

"Guess whose eighteenth birthday it is~?"

I don't even realize that someone's sing-songing at me for a minute, I'm too busy huddled up in utter misery, as deep in my coat and hood and scarf and mittens as I can get.

"Okay, fine, don't guess."

I blink stupidly at the girl who's now leaning against the tree, too, practically on my shoulder. Crazy thing isn't even wearing a hat, coat doesn't even have a frickin' hood, she's wearing a SKIRT AND LEGGINGS, that's _it_, in _this weather_, she looks adorable but she's insane and WHY DOES SHE LOOK LIKE THIS IS PERFECT CAVORTING-IN-THE-FLOWERY-MEADOWS WEATHER IT'S NOT FAIR. "X-X-X-Xi?"

"Awwww, poor Axel," and she throws her arms around me.

And I burst into tears.

Okay, I _am_ happy to see her, I feel like I'm going to spew joy like a broken piñata, but really, I'm crying because it's so dang cold and I love her so much. Like, together, not just one and not just the other. That doesn't make any sense, does it. I think my brain's starting to freeze, and not from ice cream this time.

"Poor baby," she says, squeezing me harder. "Let's go inside."

"I'll m-miss my b-bus."

"I'll drive you, silly!"

"O-Oh..."

"Why _are_ you riding the bus, anyway? What happened to your car?"

I don't say anything because then I'll just cry some more. Dang it, Xi, show up when I can actually handle the fantasticness of it, plz, instead of now when I'm coming apart at the seams and looking about as uncool as Axel Hayes can get...

"C'mon," she says, steering me back into the lobby and making me sit down and bringing me a cup of coffee which I can barely drink because I'm shivering so much.

Eventually I warm up enough to, like, talk, by which time I remember why she's here. "Hey, happy birthday! Happy freaking birthday! You're freaking eighteen! Aaaaahhhhh!"

"Aaaahhhh!" she screams playfully, and glomps me again. I can't move because I'm still holding the rest of the coffee and I'll drop it if I do, and I can't talk because then I'll start crying again, for different reasons now. What is this, PMS?

She leans back and studies my face. "I'm happy to see you, too," she finally says.

I take a few deep breaths. "I'm so...I really...you...gah."

She waits patiently, smiling a little.

"You won't believe how much I've been looking forward to this."

"Me, too," she says, affectionately brushing a lock of hair out of my face. "I'm an adult now. I can do whatever the freak I want now."

I put the coffee down and wrap my arms around her and hug her again, as tight as I can without crushing her, relishing the feel of my precious sister in my arms with nothing holding us back. "I missed you so much," I whisper, barely able to get the words out.

"I missed you, too," she whispers back. "I think about you all the time."

Our hug loosens, and we look at each other for a moment.

Then she laughs. "Well, not _all_ the time."

"Heh, was feeling sorry for Riku a minute there, his girlfriend having her brothers in mind during every makeout session..."

She shoves me hard, and I laugh, knowing why she's mad.

"There _are_ no makeout sessions, remember? Thanks to you jerks," she grumbles. "_He's_ the one with my stupid brothers in mind."

"Heheh..."

"JERKS. I hate you all."

"D'aww, really?"

"No," she pouts. "But I still hate you."

"I love you lots," I croon, hugging her again. "You're my favorite eighteen-year-old in the entire world."

"And you're my favorite [. . .] person in the entire world."

"Heh...you sure about that...?" Not that I think she loves one of us more than the other or anything, but I doubt she'd have chosen that phrasing if she knew.

[. . .]

"That's horrible!" she cries, but she's laughing.

[. . .]

"You guys are stupid," she says affectionately, patting my shoulder.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Riku got held up at school, but he said he'll meet us at the restaurant. Roxas and Naminé went to get Saïx."

"So we'll all be together again," I say happily, and she hugs me. I'm more than happy to return the gesture.

"Nothing can separate us ever again," she growls. "You're _mine_, forever."

"Mine forever," I echo, stroking her hair. "I love you, princess."

"Love you, too. Come on." She hops to her feet and holds out her hand. "Let's go to the car and get the heater running before you faint or something."

"I'm not _that_ much of a pansy," I protest, taking her hand. "I just hate winter..."

"We should move somewhere warm."

"I was thinking that earlier."

"Let's do it."

"We can't."

"Yeah..."

"It's okay. You guys are worth it."

She beams and kisses my nose and slings her arm securely around my waist, and I lay mine across her shoulders, and we walk back out into the frosty air armed with the warmth of each other's company.

o.o.o

Author's Notes: I'm trying to think of a way to sugar-coat this, but I can't. I hate AkuShi. I end up reading it a lot, though; there are a few depictions of it that I can tolerate and even fewer that are actually cute, but most of the time, it just...inspires various negative feelings in me, is the mildest way I can put it. My reaction to that this time was to write a drabble with the kind of 100% platonic AkuShi I _do_ like.

**This story will probably make more sense if you read **_**Fire & Moonlight: Much Better**_**.**

Dang it, it occurred to me to make this story the AkuShi installment for TKoL, but then I remembered that at this point in the Stepsibsverse timeline, Xion is dating someone, and Axel is not dating but he's in love with someone. *sweatdrop* Boo. Stupid romance! ^^;

Censored because I just felt uncomfortable with the thought of that part being made public. (It's not squicky, ftr.) Axel sprang a TOTALLY UNPLANNED AND UNEXPECTED development at me, but I suppose it will have to stay a secret forever. Oh well; it doesn't change the plot or anything, so I don't really have reason to ever mention it again.


	5. His Eighteenth: Saïx

_**Stepsiblings**_**, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl**

**His Eighteenth (rough draft) [censored version]**

Summary: Roxas & Saïx's turn. Companion to _Her Eighteenth_ and _Fire & Moonlight: Much Better_.

A/N: Saïx's POV.

This little "Eighteenth" mini-series is an AU - I can't see it happening in the main Stepsibsverse, but at the same time, I can't figure out how to make it _not_ happen, either. o.O

o.o.o

I don't plan on ever trying to publish it or even let anyone read it, but this summer project, started on a whim, has caught more of my interest than I expected.

I was so absorbed in writing that I no longer even registered the noise of the coffee shop, and certainly did not detect my brother's approach until he had pressed his hands over my eyes and started sing-songing, "Guess who's not breaking the ruuuules today?"

"How many times have I told you all to stop smudging my glasses," I said, pushing him away and taking them off to clean them.

"Saïx, you are the most _not fun_ person _ever_." He paused. "Scratch that. Father and your grandpa are worse."

"Thank you for amending your insult to be more accurate," I said, then stood up to embrace him.

For some reason, we ended up just standing there with our arms around each other for a long time, before I finally frowned and tried to pull away. "All right, Roxas, I'm glad to see you."

"I missed you," he mumbled into my shoulder.

"You've made your sentiment rather clear, there is no need to continue demonstrating."

He grinned as he leaned back. "You've been missing me a lot, too."

Had I forgotten to-? No, my Shield was still active, so how...?

His smile softened as he clapped my shoulder. "Doesn't matter whether you Shield or not, I can still tell."

"I find it rather irritating that you three still seem to be able to read my mind," I grumbled. "Did you get my message?"

He frowned, pulled out his phone, and tilted his head in mild interest. "Huh. One missed call. From you. You left a voicemail."

I closed my eyes in exasperation. "Don't bother checking it. The bottom line is that the repairs won't be done until Thursday because those workers are incompetent idiots, so we can't stay at our house tonight after all."

Roxas gazed at me with a tranquil, uncomprehending look on his face.

"_Roxas_. We can't stay at our house. I highly doubt that you have enough money to contribute to a hotel stay, and I _know_ Axel doesn't. At the moment, we have nowhere to sleep tonight."

"We'll figure it out," he said carelessly.

"Roxas! You and Axel both, why are you always so - so _lackadaisical_ about everything?"

"Saïx, I'm eighteen. I'm an adult now. I can see you and Axel and Xion together whenever the heck I want. I'm pretty much floating on cloud nine right now, and all your Saïxness just kind of sounds like blah blah blah to me. All I can think about is how awesome it is that I'm standing here with you and _not_ having to keep looking over my shoulder."

We stood there for a while, I trying to determine the best response to this, he simply watching me with a little smile on his face.

I finally remembered that I had not yet actually congratulated him on today's milestone. "Happy birthday, Roxas."

"Thanks, Sai."

"You do have a point about the new convenience in the four of us socializing together."

"Yup."

"...Stop _smiling_ like that, it's unsettling."

"Yup."

"_Roxas_."

"Blah blah blah, Sai."

I sighed. "I'm going to call Xion, she seems to have more of a head on her shoulders than either of you two idi-"

[. . .]

He winced and reached to cover my eyes. "Ow, Sai..."

"STOP SMUDGING MY GLASSES."

"Stop doomgazing me..."

[. . .]

"People are staring..."

They were. I pushed his hand away from my eyes and seized his arm to force him outside where we could find somewhere more private to talk, but it occurred to me that some of our observers might misconstrue the situation. "Get outside," I hissed.

"Promise you won't hurt me..."

"Those manipulative eyes DON'T work on me now _get outside_."

He grinned again, though in a self-defensive way this time, and set his hands against my shoulders. "Please. Please, Sai, don't be mad at me."

"I am _furious_ at you."

He drew in a deep, shaky breath. "I...really, really don't want you to be mad at me..." Something flickered across his face. "Hey, it's my birthday. You're supposed to be nice to me."

...That was a valid argument. I could feel my roiling emotions settle down somewhat, and heard my brother release a quiet sigh of relief.

"You are not off the hook," I warned.

He grinned again in a way that would have melted Axel's heart. Roxas ought to know better than to use his tricks on me, but I suppose it's become a habit for him. "I am for now. You have to be nice to me at least for today."

"Until midnight."

"Heh, you're such a stickler..."

"I'm calling Xion now, so that we can make a plan like _responsible_ people do and not let today go to waste."

"Sai, we could eat dinner at Bloaty's Pizza Hog and spend the night on park benches for all I care. _I'm eighteen_. It's over. We can be together forever now."

"What happened to the sentimental talk of 'being together in our hearts, no matter how far we're apart' and such that you all kept spouting?"

"Have to tell each other _something_ to keep from going crazy, yeah?"

I _knew_ it.

"C'mon."

"Just seconds ago, I was the one urging us to leave..."

"Well, now we can actually go since you're not mad at me anymore."

[. . .] "I suppose I'm not. [. . .]"

"That's okay. You [only have to love] me. That's not gonna change, right?"

Why do they always try to get me to make embarrassing statements in public places? They act like they don't notice, but sometimes I think they have to be doing it on purpose. "You are my younger brother. _That_ is what is never going to change, no matter what our circumstances are."

He smiled again, this time in a way that did not disquiet me. "Brothers all the way."

"It's impossible to _not_ have that memorized, it's been said so often among us," I said, and he laughed.

o.o.o

Author's Notes: **Bloaty's Pizza Hog is a reference to the cartoon **_**Invader Zim**_**. XD**

Censored for the exact same reason _Her Eighteenth_ was censored. It's not squicky, it just made me headdesk.

I think I have at least one more drabble in this mini-verse, a tiny one, then that should be it.


	6. Thirteen Years Later: Saïx

_**Stepsiblings**_**, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl**

**Thirteen Years Later (rough draft)**

Summary: Saïx manages to make it to his little brother's high school graduation.

A/N: This was one of my very earliest ideas for this series, after I realized that it was not going to end with the original six-drabble one-shot. Therefore, it was before I figured out the full family tree and the timeline, so a lot of things don't fit with the main universe anymore. Still, I wanted to write it as closely as possible to the original picture I had in my head. One thing that's definitely AU is Saïx meeting Naminé for the first time, since he's supposed to already know her. And he should have moved back to his hometown by now, he's not supposed to still be living so far away.

Also, a lot of things from this unwritten plot bunny influenced later-published stories and kind of ruined the tone of this one. For example, this story was supposed to be the first time Lea acted outright hostile toward Saïx onscreen. I now really regret not writing this sooner. :/ The whole point of this story was to reveal a certain plot development, some of the pairings, and to reinforce the "siblings all the way" theme, as well as sneak a peek at what the characters are doing so far in the future, but I ended up doing that in other stories before I could get this one written. :/

o.o.o

I didn't realize I had fallen asleep until my sister nearly gave me a heart attack waking me up.

"SAIX!"

I immediately found myself being assaulted, having trouble breathing, and forgetting where I was for an instant.

"I missed yoooouuuu!"

"Xion," I grunted, trying to pry her off me. Airport, that's right. Some sort of mix-up; Axel thought Xion was picking me up, Xion thought Van was, and Van didn't care in the least - I must have fallen asleep waiting. "I missed you, too, but get off. Flinging yourself into my lap is not necessary, I assure you."

She leaned back, beaming, but still kept her arms around my neck. "I haven't seen you in _ages_."

"Likewise. Get off."

She kissed my nose. "Did you get Roxas a present?"

"Of course I did."

"Hee, Axel forgot. He had to run out to go shopping this morning."

"Idiot..." I glanced over her shoulder. "Hello, Riku."

"Hi, Saïx."

Then there didn't seem to be anything else to say.

"Riku, get his bag!" Xion ordered cheerfully. "You looked tired, Sai."

"I'm perfectly capable of carrying my own bag, and yes, I look tired because I _am_."

"Eh, you didn't sleep on the plane?"

"A difficult feat when seated next to a fussing baby on one side and a very inconsiderate cell phone user on the other for the entire flight..."

"Aw, poor Sai-Sai."

"That is _not_ a valid form of address," I growled, doomgazing slightly. Not that I minded the nickname much when alone among my siblings, but this was not the case at the moment.

"You're just shy because Riku's around," she pouted. "He won't think you're silly, will you, Riku?"

"Never," he snapped, so sharply that I realized he must be having a flashback to his first encounter with his girlfriend's family. Yet more reason to have no regrets about that, then.

"See? You should like him, Saïx."

"I never said I didn't."

There was no time to drop my luggage off at the house, we had to rush straight to the auditorium through terrible traffic. They were actually starting the ceremony as we made our way to our seats.

"Sai!" Axel leaped up and shoved his way past eight people at the end of the row before he managed to reach us, where he threw his arms around me. "Finally!"

"There is a phrase you ought to learn, Axel. It's called, 'Pardon me,' and you really should use it when you're being significantly disruptive."

"I don't even get a hello?!"

"Not until you sit down and start acting your age."

"I'm _ecstatic_ to see you, too," he pouted.

We made our way back past the eight, rightfully annoyed-looking people to where our own family was sitting. Lea completely ignored me and Van had eyes only for Xion, but the others all smiled and reached out to hug me or clasp my hand. Once we were finally settled, I leaned close to Axel to whisper in his ear, "Hello. I missed you very much." He smiled and elbowed me in the ribs, which I took to mean he reciprocated my feelings.

The ceremony was just as dull and interminable as all the other graduations I'd been to - save for, of course, the part we were actually here for. Xion and Axel spent the rest of it playing various games on paper, which they kept passing across me to Riku and Demyx. I joined in occasionally whenever they pestered me to do so, otherwise resorting to a book I had brought. It was only when the surnames starting with J began to wane that we all started paying more attention.

"Roxas Aubade King!"

Most of our family surged to their feet and cheered wildly. I let down my Shield and Spoke as strongly as I could how proud I was of my brother, how glad to see him complete this chapter of his life so successfully.

Roxas halted his march across the stage in mid-stride, his head snapping around. He found us immediately and grinned, his eyes meeting mine. He raised his hand in a salute, then looked around and did the same in a different direction, for some reason. He seemed to truly be glowing as he continued on to accept his diploma.

"WAY TO GO, ROX!" Xion was screaming deafeningly.

I looked around for our other brother. "...Axel?"

"I'm _not_ crying, okay?! Shut up!"

Afterward, it took a while to find Roxas amidst the sea of graduates and their families. When we finally located him, he was sitting on a low wall, holding a girl in his lap and talking to his two best friends.

"Pence!" Kairi screamed at once, echoed by Olette's cheerful, "Pencey!" The girls pounced to hug him before he could even turn around.

Hayner's eyes widened as he looked at all of us. "Whoa - it's an invasion!"

"It's my _family_," Roxas said indignantly as the girl hastily scrambled out of his lap.

"There's so friggin' many of them!"

"Roxas, this is your family?" the girl said nervously, her eyes going straight to me.

Roxas took her hand. "Yeah. You already know Axel and Xion, and Riku and my jerk cousin Van-"

Van started to flip them off, then grunted when Xion elbowed him in the ribs. Lea smothered Roxas in a hug as he tried to continue.

"This is Mom, you know her...that's Axel's friend Alice, Demyx and Zidane are my cousins, Sarah is Zidane's fiancée, that's Aunt Aqua and Uncle Zack and Uncle Terra and Aunt Ella-"

Aqua laughed, leaning to kiss the side of Roxas's head. "She's not going to remember a single one of our names, dear."

"Hm."

"My turn," Axel demanded, yanking Roxas out of their mother's arms to do his own smothering. "Rox-my-sooooocks, I'm so proud of yoooouuuu!"

"Don't call me thaaaat!" Roxas whined playfully. Then he saw me and his eyes lit up. "SAIX!"

"Hello, Roxas."

"Axel! Get off, I want Saïx!"

"What's wrong with me?" Axel protested.

"I see you all the time."

"Meh, fair enough," Axel pouted, releasing Roxas so that our youngest brother could embrace me even more enthusiastically than I expected.

"You came!"

"Of course I did."

"You said you couldn't come because you'd miss the last two days of school!"

"I _said_ that it would be difficult, but I would see what I could do," I corrected, trying to pry him off me. "I managed to arrange things well enough for a substitute to handle."

"But now you're missing out on all the last-day-of-school presents and yearbook signing," Xion laughed, patting my shoulder.

"As if that even compares." The wages I was losing by taking these particular vacation days were far more of a concern, but a sacrifice I was quite willing to make in this instance. "Roxas, get _off_."

He pulled back, grinning. "So I'm worth more to you than getting to sign yearbooks?"

"You three ask these sorts of questions in order to have your egos stroked, don't you," I suggested. However, I let down my Shield, at least until Roxas startled me by his eyes filling with tears, at which I hastily drew it back up again. "I'm proud of you, Roxas," I said awkwardly. "That's all I meant." Had he seen something different than what I intended?

"I know," he whispered. "Thanks, Sai." He hugged me again, and, to my surprise, Axel and Xion did, as well. They're so _sentimental_.

"This love-fest is making me gag," Van remarked in disgust.

"Sshh, Van," Aqua hissed.

"Don't say something I agree with!" Lea exclaimed as she stared at my cousin in horror.

I looked at Jasmine and Ella. "Why are you _taking pictures_?"

"You're all so cuuuute!" they squealed in unison before bursting into laughter.

Pence was staring at me, and Hayner was studying me with a slight frown. "Wow...your eyes really do talk." He stuck out his hand for me to shake. "You're way better than Van," he decided.

"Well, thank you, I suppose," I said dryly. I could sense Van doomgazing him in retaliation, so I turned around to intercept it. _"Leave him alone, it's not his fault you make yourself so disagreeable."_

_"Maybe your head will explode if I doomgaze it hard enough."_

_"I highly doubt that Xion or Aqua would be very happy if that happened."_

_"...You suck."_

He turned away to cross his arms and glare at Aqua.

"Don't pout, love," she said, reaching to smooth the frown lines out of his expression, "it looks terrible."

He seemed to relax at the touch of her hands on his face. "I'm not pouting. I'm not a little kid."

"If you're not a child, then don't act like one," she said, kissing his temple.

Roxas was trying to coax the yellow-haired girl out from where she seemed to be hiding behind the happily chatting group of Hayner, Pence, Kairi, Olette, and Sora. "Naminé, come _on_! He's not gonna bite!"

"Wh-Who?" she said, avoiding eye contact with me with such determination that I knew it was I setting her on edge.

"Roxas," I said, "your mother is getting impatient, we had better leave."

"No," Roxas said stubbornly. "Naminé, he's my _brother_. It's really important to me that you like him."

I found her response rather admirable - it was obviously difficult for her to approach me and hold out a slightly shaking hand. "H...Hello...I'm Naminé."

"She's my girlfriend," Roxas announced forcefully.

"The one he's always gushing about on the phone," Xion laughed.

I took hold of the girl's hand gently. No telling what my evil cousin had done to traumatize the creature. "I'm pleased to meet you." I hesitated a moment, then let the Shield down again, arranging my thoughts as best I could. _"Be at peace in my presence, let the love I bear for my brother cover you as well, you are welcome among us..."_

Her hand grew heavy in mine, and her eyelids fluttered for a moment as if she was falling asleep. Then her eyes suddenly opened wide as she stared at me in wonder. "Saïx?" she said uncertainly.

I quickly drew the Shield up again and stepped back. I didn't care to have her touching my face... It was more convenient for her to like me, but I could do without the physical affection. Useful as the Speech could be, I hated it sometimes... Axel was the only person, aside from my golden-eyed relatives, who had never once flinched away from me. These eyes made me feel like a monster sometimes, and then like an abnormality even when I _wasn't_ hated.

"What was _that_?!" Roxas burst out in amazement. "I didn't know you could do that now!"

"What?" Axel and Xion gasped eagerly. "What, what'd he do?"

"It's - like - what Father does sometimes, you know...like, _talks_ instead of just spewing thoughts and feelings..."

"I've had opportunity to practice," I grumbled. It was an endlessly convenient ability to have in my profession.

"Try it on me!" Xion urged, stepping into my line of vision, but Lea had had enough.

"Roxas, I'm sick of just _standing around_ here, let's _go_!"

The celebration lasted late - we had use of the venue for as long as we wanted that night, and since it was very rare for so many of our family and friends to be gathered at the same time, visiting adequately with everyone was no brief task.

Lea, who had openly hated me ever since the divorce, tolerated my presence on this occasion for Roxas's sake, and because I did my best to ignore her existence. Van did the same, since he was here solely due to Xion's goodwill and could not afford to even toe the line; if there was anyone Lea hated more than me or even my father, it was him.

"Hey," Axel said nervously at one point. He had been drinking as much as Alice and I would allow him, and acting strangely for the past hour. I had tried to be patient, guessing what he was working up the courage for. "Rox, Xi...I have to tell you something."

"What's up?" Roxas said at once. He swung away from the story Sora was telling, and came to come plop down into a chair. Xion scooted her own chair closer.

"I...wanted...to...uh, introduce you to someone."

Xion frowned in puzzlement. "Is there someone here we don't know?"

"I don't believe I've met that couple over there," Alice mused, "the ones from Agrabah."

Axel took her hand and squeezed it. "Um, yeah," he continued, addressing our younger siblings. "My...my girlfriend. You haven't met my girlfriend."

Now Roxas was frowning, too. "Wait, what?"

"Since when did you start dating again?" Xion exclaimed.

Axel winced. "Keep your voices down..."

Alice was staring at him in surprise. "Oh, are we telling people now?"

"WHAAAT?!" our siblings yelled.

"Keep it _down_!" Axel pleaded.

"Wait, you're going out with _Alice_?!"

"Um..."

"Is something wrong, dear?" Alice asked in concern. "I thought you hated keeping secrets."

Xion's eyes widened. "Axel! She's _my age_!"

"I knoooww!" he wailed.

"She's like-" Roxas paused to calculate. "-ten years younger than you."

Axel buried his face in his arms.

"That's enough," I told them. "I've already given him the cradle-robbing lecture."

"Saïx, you _knew_?!"

"Ohhh," Xion realized. "_That's_ what he was squirming about at Christmas."

Alice had a hand laid protectively over Axel's head. "Is this really causing trouble for you?" she asked quietly.

It occurred to me to mention, "He did wait until she was a legal adult before speaking to her of the matter."

Xion studied me for a moment, then smiled at Alice and said, "Nah. It's just a surprise, that's all."

Roxas poked his brother's shoulder, then the ribs when there was no response. "Axel, come on. We don't hate you."

"You probably should," was the mumbled response.

A mischievous grin crossed Roxas's face. "Fine, we hate you. That means you have to bribe us with ice cream to like you again, okay?"

"Well, there's ice cream over at the dessert table," Alice said dubiously.

Axel peeked an eye over his arm and smiled a little.

"Hey!" Xion gasped, fumbling for her camera, "Axel, make a boyfriendey pose with her! Roxas, get Naminé; RIKU! I WANT YOU!"

"Do you want me, too?" Van asked only half-playfully, reaching us before Riku did.

"Hmm- Oh! Yes, you can take the picture," she decided, thrusting the camera into his hands.

What? "I thought I would be taking the picture."

"Of course not, silly," Jasmine laughed in my ear, startling me. "Then you can't be in it."

"But-"

"Here, scoot in," Aladdin suggested, elegantly twirling another chair so close to me that Jasmine was able to sit in his lap and toss her legs across mine.

"I'm not taking a picture of you with _Riku_," Van was snarling.

"Vaniiii, take a nice picture for me and then I'll dance with you, okay?"

"Three songs," he demanded, which she readily agreed to.

"All right!" Xion cheered when we were gathered to her satisfaction, "Sexy poses, girls!"

"What?" Naminé gasped, and "I beg your pardon?" Alice said in what seemed to be genuine puzzlement. Jasmine needed no clarification, leaning back in a way that made her husband catch his breath, and twining her fingers in his and my hair to draw us closer. I hadn't been this near her in so long... I realized that I had closed my eyes so as to have less distraction from her scent, so I made myself open them again. As always, she was very good at distracting me from whatever I was supposed to be focusing on.

"Say 'puke,'" Van snapped, raising the camera.

"Cheeeese!" most of us called instead.

After the girls had finished exclaiming over how well the photo had turned out and made Xion transfer copies to their various devices, my sister turned to the room at large. "Hey, everyone! Mega-group picture!"

"Man, this is going to take forever," Roxas groaned, though he seemed to be aware that the result would be worth all the trouble.

It was after we had _finally_ finished, when everyone was dispersing, that Roxas suddenly froze. His head lifted alertly, and then he made a beeline for the door.

I was the only one who noticed at first, and I followed quietly, watching from the doorway as Roxas strode out into the night and flung his arms around the silver-haired figure who had silently called him.

Father tolerated it for a long moment, and I wondered if I always looked that awkward when people embraced me. Then he finally took hold of Roxas and gently pushed him away, though he continued to rest his hands on his youngest son's shoulders. "That's enough."

"You came," Roxas said happily. "I thought you'd skipped out."

"I was...at the ceremony, too, actually."

He was?

"You were? I _thought_ that was you doomgazing, but then I wasn't sure because I never saw you afterwards..."

"I was there. Not with your family, of course; your mother would never have stood for it."

"She let Sai and Van stay," Roxas pouted.

"You know it's different in my case."

"Well, whatever. I'm really glad you were there after all."

"Forgive me for intruding here-"

"You're not-!"

"-but I realized I had neglected to give you your graduation gift."

"_Please_ say it's not just a boring check."

"Perhaps you will find this more to your liking..."

"Holy-! Is this a _car key_?!"

"Yes."

"Flaming-! I get the car it turns on?!"

"It is back at my house, you will have to come pick it up."

"Father!"

"...This is not satisfactory?"

"_No_, stupid, it's _awesome_!" Roxas cried, throwing his arms around him again.

"Well, I am glad you're pleased."

Xion came up beside me. "Whatcha lookin' at-? _Daddy_!" She ran to fling her arms around him as well.

"Xion..." He raised his head and met my eyes.

_"I, too, am glad you came,"_ I Spoke.

He didn't respond for a moment. Then, _"Saïx...Roxas is not the only son I am proud of."_

I had to turn away, unable to Shield what I was feeling. Such a humiliating lack of control, even after all this time...

Axel startled me, appearing so suddenly at that moment. "Man, so it _is_ possible to be happy and still emo at the same time."

"What?" I said in annoyance, simultaneously grateful to him for distracting me.

"Where's Roxas?"

"He's-"

"Oh." Axel shrugged. "C'mon, Sai, might as well."

"What are you talking about?"

My father had never had any problem with control. His face and eyes were both perfectly composed as he was tightly embraced by all four of his grown children.

"Daddy," Xion asked, "are you staying?"

"Of course not. I only meant to run an errand concerning Roxas and then be on my way."

"I'll make Mom be nice to you," Roxas offered.

"Do not trouble yourself."

"At least take some cake back with you," Axel ordered, and Xion ran to fetch some.

Father frowned. "I have no taste for sweets, you know this."

"It's your son's _graduation cake_, Xem! At least taste it."

"It's good," Roxas assured him.

"I don't see why the quality should have anything to do with-"

"Father," I said, "it's not worth resisting."

"...I suppose not."

After he had left, we leisurely made our way back to the celebration, and were met by Lea in the doorway. "Precious, I was _looking_ for you."

"Sorry, Mom." He leaned to kiss her.

"What were you all doing out here?"

"Being a family," Axel said.

She frowned. "What does that mean?"

I could tell that my brothers and even Xion were all having trouble not telling her, so I rested a hand on Axel's and Roxas's shoulders in warning. No good could come of it right now. "Sometimes it's nice to get away from all the noise and the crowd for a moment," was all I could think to say. I could sense her glaring at me even though I wasn't looking at her, so I backed away from her sons.

"I missed you," she said, wrapping her arms protectively around Roxas.

"Aw, we missed you, too, Mom," Xion said, embracing her. "I really wish you could have been with us..."

Lea didn't say anything, but set a hand against Xion's dark hair and closed her eyes, holding her for a moment.

"You have two more people to hug," Roxas told her.

"Roxas," I said, "Ms. Hayes-King is under no obligation to show affection to a person who is no longer related to her, and you only distress her by continuing this insistence."

Lea, who had her arms around Axel now, looked at me cautiously over his shoulder. I was careful to keep my eyes averted. "It feels weird when you call me that," she growled.

"Apologies, madam."

"_Stop_ it," she snapped.

"Mom, what is he _supposed_ to call you?" the other three clamored in exasperation.

She fidgeted.

"What, he's just supposed to keep pretending you don't exist?" Axel said angrily. "Well, guess what, Mom, you do, and so does he."

"_Fine_!" She suddenly surged at me and seized the front of my shirt. "Fine!" she shouted again. "Do whatever you want!"

I looked at her cautiously, not sure what she wanted. She was staring intensely at my face, her breathing quick and shallow. I could feel her hands trembling slightly.

"I want you to be happy," I finally said. It certainly made things easier on the rest of us whenever she was.

She was searching my face in a more bewildered way now. "...Your eyes," she finally whispered. "They're just...empty now..."

As carefully as I could, I Spoke. _"I don't hate you. I never have."_ I was not prepared for her to lower her face to my shoulder and burst into tears.

Uncertainly, I put my arms around her as Roxas whispered to the other two, "There! There it is! That's what he did to Naminé earlier."

"Ohhh...heh, what is it, a Doomgaze Upgrade?"

I glared at them as Xion giggled.

After that, Lea went back to ignoring me, but the tension had gone out of her posture, and the hostility from her tone and expression. Her opinion didn't matter to me one way or the other, but her feelings really did have an effect on both the atmosphere and my brothers' moods. I wished I had learned how to Speak properly when I was younger, but I supposed that it was better to know it now than never...

Ella and Terra stayed behind to help us clean up afterward, as did Alice, Naminé, and Riku; and Van stayed because Xion did. "Be sweet and carry these to the car," she said, handing him a box and several bags.

"What am I, a pack mule?"

"No, you're a _gentleman_," she said threateningly.

Alice was in the kitchen, drying pots and platters as Riku washed them. Lea was up on a ladder taking down decorations which Naminé gathered into trash bags, while Ella ran the vacuum cleaner, and her husband worked with Axel to get all the tables and chairs put away. As I was tying the last trash bag closed, Roxas came by, carrying two more of them. "Wait just a moment, we can take them out together."

"Okay."

We walked out to the dumpster. "You probably shouldn't be carrying out garbage on a day that's supposed to be in your honor."

He chuckled. "I don't mind."

I smiled a little. "How does it feel to be a graduate?"

He raised both hands in the air and crowed.

"All right, all _right_, I understand."

"I'm glad you made it, Sai."

"I would not have wanted to miss it."

He grinned. "You've changed a lot, you know."

"Probably..."

"You couldn't stand me when I was a kid."

"That's not true." At least, not entirely.

"Can't blame you; I was a brat."

"You were," I acknowledged, "but that's all right. I'm sure Axel was many times worse."

He laughed. "Yeah."

"Thank goodness I missed out on that..."

"Saïx?"

"Yes?"

"If you had a choice...if you'd known everything that would happen, would you still want me and Axel for brothers?"

"Of course I would, why would you ask that?"

He grinned again. "I wanted to see your eyes when you said it."

"You really do love having your ego stroked."

"What, you want your ego stroked, too? Here: you're the best- well, the second-best big brother ever, Saïx; if I had a choice between you and Van, I'd choose you every single time; you've gotten really good at not being a jerk, and-"

"Roxas, your compliments leave much to be desired. Just so you know."

He smiled. "I was teasing you. You're awesome, Sai."

"You've grown up to be a very admirable young man, Roxas."

"Heh heh. I think we're about even on the compliments now."

"You're ridiculous..."

We had reached the doors by this time, and went in to rejoin our family.

o.o.o

Author's Notes: Before I finally came up with a title just now, I was calling this the "pre-XemRoku Day" fic, because the two are somewhat connected (though the actual XemRoku Day fic is in the real Stepsibsverse, it's not an AU like this one is, and it takes place much earlier in the timeline).

**Axel/Alice - she's sixteen when they meet, seventeen when he realizes he's in love with her, eighteen when he actually tells her how he feels.** By the time of this story, they've been secretly dating for about ten or eleven months. I actually dislike the pairing as romance, it feels too weird despite being "technically okay"...but seriously, I hate shipping Axel with anyone romantically except Aqua or _maybe_ Larxene, and Aqua's already taken in this universe and I don't really like long-term AkuLarx and I didn't feel like OCDing over the rest of the Disney/Squeenix girls, so my options were limited. Since I can at least tolerate adult-who-falls-in-love-with-minor-but-is-actually-freaking-responsible-about-it pairings, I thought it would be interesting to at least experiment with Axel/Alice romance. Just as with XigLarx, Stepsibs was NOT the ideal place to do so, but whatever. *sigh* **I lost control of this series a loooooooooong time ago.**

**I've been noticing that Naminé is getting more and more OOC in my writing, not just in the Stepsibsverse... I want to fix that in the final drafts, but I figured I'd just leave her as she is in this story, since it's an AU from the main Stepsibsverse.**

Olette & Kairi both love Pence - one of them is his girlfriend and one of them is his big sister. But which is which~? :p

**The Stepsibsverse has some pretty cracky pairings, so I'm very pleasantly surprised that no one has complained to me about them. Good for you!** After dealing with all the pairing idiocy in the RuroKen fandom, I really appreciate the fact that none of my KH readers have even _hinted_ at being stupid about pairings - the last thing I want to do is come to despise writing for KH the way I have for RK. **I don't at all mind when people disagree with me and politely express their pairing preferences, but I can't stand Fan Dumb and Die For Our Ship and the like.** (For example, "I don't really like VanShi because [*insert legitimate argument here*], but I still enjoy other aspects of your story because [*insert legitimate commentary here*]" is okay, as is _legitimate_ concrit. "zomg why u write rikunami that is just WRONG and would never work!1! but ps i like the sokai plz write more sokai ur good at it :)" is NOT ACCEPTABLE to me. I've never received any comments like that in the KH fandom [RK, yes; KH, no], but I'm just sayin'.) So nice job, guys; it seems that all of you put some thought into your shipping. ^^ **I write according to story and character flow, and for the **_**Stepsiblings**_** universe, these are the pairings that worked best.**


	7. xion & namine playground

_**Stepsiblings**_**, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl**

**The Princesses Meet the Swordsmen and Rescue an Interesting Book (rough draft)**

_Dedicated to Kasan Soulblade_

Summary: While Zexion is busy creeping out Xem, their daughters are bonding on the playground.

A/N: Titles can be REALLY HARD for me to come up with sometimes. DX Especially for overgrown drabbles like this that are a mishmash of randomness. orz

o.o.o

"Do you wanna play Princesses and Dragons?" Xion asked.

"What's that?" Naminé said guardedly.

"It's when someone's the dragon and someone's the princess, and the dragon chases her around until the prince rescues her, except usually it's just me and Roxas who play and he never wants to be the princess, so we wrestle to see who gets to be the prince and then when it's time to kill the dragon I have to switch. Unless Axel plays. Then he'll be the dragon and we can both kill him. Sometimes we can get Saïx to play, too, but he won't be anything except the castle and he just sits there and reads a book and I hide behind him and shoot arrows at Roxas and Axel."

Naminé stared at her. "What?"

"Or," Xion suddenly said, "we can play Princess and Princess! You like being a princess, right?"

"Yes..." Naminé said wistfully.

"Then you can be like my sister, and we'll travel across the land singing the Song of Healing!"

"Um, okay."

"First, we need supplies. Hold out your skirt." Xion filled Naminé's skirt with pebbles until the younger girl could barely walk.

"They're heavy."

"Oh. I'll carry some, too." Xion stuffed her pockets, then surveyed her new friend critically. "You don't have anywhere to put anything. You can't hang onto your dress like that the whole time."

Naminé, in her light dress and sandals, looked down self-consciously.

"That's okay, you can share mine. Come on, Naminé! First we'll sing to make the orchards grow!"

"Um, but-"

"Just dump the food; we're sharing mine, remember?"

"This is food?"

They went to the nearest tree, where Xion sang, _"Flower, gleam and glow, let your power shine. Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine; what once was mine..."_

"Isn't that the Rapunzel song?" Naminé asked hesitantly.

"Yup! We're gonna fix everything. Come on, let's do the Desert of Skulls next!" They hurried out onto a stretch of ground that had been beaten into packed dirt, where almost no grass grew. "Your turn, Nami! Sing!"

"Um... _Flower, gleam and glow..."_

"Pretty~! Keep going!"

When they were going over to sing to Troll Mountain, a little boy ran past and accidentally clipped Naminé, knocking her to the ground. He kept going as if he hadn't even noticed.

"HEY!" Xion yelled. She ran and pounced on him, plopping down on his back when he fell.

"Get off!" he yelled back.

"SAY SORRY WHEN YOU RUN INTO SOMEONE!"

"GET OFF ME!"

"Xion," Naminé said in distress, near tears.

Xion's eyes widened when she saw the scuffed state of her friend's knees. Such was not out of the ordinary for herself, but Naminé's skin had been so pale and perfect before... "SAY SORRY OR I'LL HURT YOU," Xion bellowed, digging her fingers into the boy's long auburn hair in preparation to yank on it.

"GET OFF ME OR I'LL HURT _YOU_, YOU'RE TICKING ME OFF AND I-!"

"Kenji, we do not speak that way to others, particularly ladies."

A shadow fell across them, and Xion looked up to see a man standing over them, with a scar just like Saïx's on his face except it was over on his cheek instead of across his nose. His hair was red and even longer than the little boy's, and he had nice blue eyes like Aunt Ella's. Xion sheepishly let go of the boy's hair and said to his daddy, "I'm sorry for yelling. He pushed my friend Naminé and didn't say he was sorry."

"Is that so." A little hint of steel was suddenly in the man's voice. Xion shivered a little and felt sorry for Kenji, because his daddy seemed to have his own kind of doomgaze. She got up and held out a hand, but Kenji ignored it and stood up on his own. "It seems you owe Naminé-dono an apology, Kenji."

"She was in the _way_," Kenji said sullenly.

"This one wonders if your mother will accept that as a reasonable excuse once we explain this incident to her..."

This time, it was Kenji who shivered. "Sorry," he muttered.

"It's o-" Naminé started to whisper.

"Perhaps we should try that again," Kenji's daddy said in his doomgaze voice.

Kenji's head flew up. "I'm sorry, okay?" he yelled at Naminé. "I won't do it again!"

Naminé smiled uncertainly at him, then he looked surprised when Xion hugged him. "See, that wasn't hard," Xion said warmly.

"You pushed me, too," he accused.

His mouth was open to rant further, but Xion was already saying, "Oops. Yeah. I'm really sorry for pushing you and yelling at you and almost pulling your hair, Kenji. Let's be friends!"

He ran away.

Kenji's daddy sighed. "Apologies, little one."

"It's okay. Axel said he was bad when he was a kid, too, but now he's really nice." She smiled. "So are you. My brother has an X like that. He got it in a car accident."

Kenshin touched the scars on his face in mild surprise. "Is that so?"

"Yup. He's nice, too, kind of, and he has a doomgaze with his eyes, but not his voice like you do."

Kenshin studied her a moment, then smiled. "It sounds like you love them very much."

"Yup." Xion put an arm around Naminé. "I love everyone. Mostly. I hate when people are mean."

"I, too, have a great distaste for those who would be cruel to others," Kenshin agreed, looking like he was seeing a memory.

"Uh huh. Everyone should be nice to each other."

He smiled at her again. "That would be best, that it would."

Xion looked at Naminé after Kenshin had left. "Do your knees hurt?" she asked in concern.

"No. Only a little."

"Come on, let's go wash them in the water fount- I mean, in the Shining River." Xion dragged Naminé over and splashed water against her legs until all the dust was gone and the scratches stood out starkly against the girl's pale skin.

Naminé was gazing off into the distance.

"Whatcha lookin' at, Naminé?"

"Our daddies..."

Xion looked, too, and giggled. "I don't think your daddy is scared of mine, he's leaning really close."

"Daddy always looks like that when he sees a book in the library or the bookstore he really likes," Naminé said thoughtfully.

"Daddy looks kind of scared, maybe we should go help him..."

"Okay."

"Race you there!"

o.o.o

Author's Notes: I'm not satisfied with how this turned out... I liked the XemXi fics all right, and the XemRoku ones even though I was nervous about them, but this one and the Van one are making me squirm. *flail* I've been posting too much Stepsibs stuff lately, I think some people might be getting sick of it...sorry, guys; the plot bunnies for this series just won't leave me alone. *sweatdrop* And I'm sorry for all the unpleasant directions the plot's been heading in...I've had it all in my head for a long time, but it's only just now starting to be revealed in public; sorry if you don't like some of the recent revelations. :/ I know that everyone's busy, but I'd appreciate feedback eventually whenever you can leave it, since it's getting harder and harder for me to be objective about this series; I've only really got one or two people now who are doing anything to keep the rampant plunnies in check. *sweatdrop* I'm afraid that this series is getting too repetitive and over-the-top and cheesy and blatant, sometimes I get mired in my own ideas and it's hard to gauge how other people are reacting to it.

When I first wrote "Daughters of the Heart," I had considered writing a section from the girls' POV, but then decided against it. However, Kasan wanted to see that bit and suggested a few things, such as the "Daddy always looks like that when he sees a book he really likes" line, so I went ahead and wrote out the scene anyway. ^^ I meant to post it directly after "Daughters of the Heart," but it took me THIS LONG to finally get this thing typed so I could post it. DX Sorry...

I originally drafted this back on the day I decided to stop writing _Rurouni Kenshin_ fanfiction. Kenji got upset about me leaving his fandom, and I was surprised to find that Kenshin was sad, too, since I thought he didn't like me anymore after _The Lost Hatchling_. So they showed up unexpectedly in this fic, sorry. ^^; Kenshin has more in common with my OT4 than I thought. XD

**The biggest reason why I wanted to post this right after "Daughters of the Heart" was because I wanted to clarify my stance on bullying, which I don't think is clear when judging solely by that story. That fic most reflected my **_**personal**_** experience with bullying,** where I keep finding myself watching in frustration as victims ignore my advice and sabotage themselves. **However, that is NOT the only type of bullying out there, nor is it a type of bullying that's in the majority; and while it's more understandable, it is still NOT acceptable. There are also people who get picked on for **_**absolutely no reason**_**, for things that are absolutely not their fault, for things they can't help, and even for things that they should be proud of. ****It is never, never, NEVER okay to hurt or harass or speak ill of someone just because you don't like them or hate them or are angry at them, or because they're different or not what you're used to or don't meet your expectations.**** It is not funny, it does not make you look cool. Gossiping about someone and making them look bad to others, name-calling and insults, sending derogatory messages, making racist/sexist/etc. comments, using physical violence, making their life harder or more unpleasant than it needs to be - how can **_**anyone**_** in their right mind think that this behavior is a good thing? You might think that they "deserve it" or that you're justified, but that is not true; retaliation only makes the problem worse.** You'd have to be unbelievably self-centered to get that numb to another person's feelings. As human beings, we need to be trying to make the world a _better_ place for everyone, not hurting others and spreading ugliness. **People have died because of this. Every bully whose actions drove someone to suicide may just as well be a murderer. All the bystanders who witnessed these things happening and didn't speak up are not guiltless, either. THINK before you speak, before you act - there is more at stake than you realize.**

I wish it had occurred to me to include this A/N in "Daughters of the Heart." Bullying is such a huge problem and a sensitive topic, and that story only briefly addressed one small aspect of it. I just wish, wish, wish, wish that people could be nice to each other and get along even when they disagree, I don't understand why there is so much hate. -.- I see it happening every day in the schools where I work, and it drives me nuts, the bullies are often so unreasonable and wrapped up in themselves and they think _they're_ the ones who are being wronged, they refuse to acknowledge the pain they're causing someone else, and they don't realize that the hurt they cause is just circling around and hurting them in return. Sooooo frustrating.


	8. If We Could Meet Again, Van & Ven: Van

_**Stepsiblings**_**, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl**

**If We Could Meet Again - Van & Ven (rough draft) [censored version]**

Summary: Van & Ven still have some things to say to each other.

A/N: I actually had similar ideas a while ago for Saïx/Kay, Axel/Ven, etc., but for some reason the VenVan version that popped into my head this morning was the first to actually get written. *sweatdrop*

Van's POV. AU because the timeline for this subplot is so messed up. -.- This makes a bit more sense if you've read "Beyond His Reach."

o.o.o

I know who he is before I even see him. _'Ven's here,'_ I think, and I look up and there he is. Sitting on a bench surrounded by birds, watching me, smiling a little. "Hi, Van."

I can't stand to even look at him, his smile is so painful, I realize I'm already walking away. Walking and walking, I try to straighten my shoulders but I can't. I'm waiting, but I don't hear his voice or feel his touch, and I finally stop and look back and...he's still just sitting there. Watching me. He didn't follow me after all. "Ven," I say, even though I didn't want to say anything, but I can't help it. _'Ven...'_

"...Do you not want to be with me?" he says, looking a little sad.

I can't answer. I can't say a thing. I want him so much, to talk to him, just to walk along for a while with him at my side so I finally won't be so alone, but...I can't say anything. I don't want to tell him how much I need him.

He knows anyway. I sense him standing beside me now.

"Ven." It's all I can say. I don't really tell people 'Thank you,' but I know he still knows.

He finally says gently, "So what have you been up to since I saw you last?"

My face gets hot and I can't look at him. I can't tell him what a complete screw-up I've been, that the life he sacrificed his own to save is so pathetic and worthless. I can't _stand_ to see the disappointed look on his face, I'll die. ...If I'm not already dead. Why is he here, anyway? He's supposed to be dead.

"I never got to tell you some things," I say, looking at his feet. "That...I'm...sorry." I meant to say all the things I'm sorry for, but my throat is tight and I can't.

"I forgive you," he says, still in that gentle light voice, like me killing him was no big deal.

My hands curl into fists. "Shut up. And I wanted to thank you for-" No, he's not the one who put that tattoo on my shoulder. I did that myself. Daydreaming that he was protecting me, when really it was just me taking even more from him that I never repaid. I'm suddenly glad my sleeves are long enough to cover it; I don't want him to know about what I did to his Mark of Mastery after he died. "F-For...being there for me, when I was a kid. Being nice to me and helping me and putting up with me, even though you screwed up and got yourself killed like an idiot. And I wanted to...tell you that...I..." It's hard. So hard to say in words. I think of Speaking it at him, but I'd actually have to look in his eyes to do that, and I can't. "That I...miss you." I swallow. _'A lot.'_

"I miss you, too, Van," he says softly.

Wait. Wait wait wait. "You're not here to take me, are you?!"

His fingertips brushing my face surprise me; I jump back before I realize it was harmless, but it's too late and he doesn't touch me again. "You're only dreaming, Van."

A dream...just a dream...I'm not dead yet. I don't want to die. I'm not gonna end up in the same place Ven is. I'm...scared. To die. I'd 'die' before admitting it, except it hits me just now that that's not true, I'd do _anything_ to not die.

"There's nothing to fear here, Van. You're safe."

"Who cares! Stop going on about dumb stuff I don't care about!"

He chuckles a little. Why is he so _casual_? I'm the one freaking out. "What would you like to talk about, then?"

"...About how much I hate myself for what I did to you."

"Don't hate yourself." He sounds sad again. "Please."

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"Who is it you're going to listen to, then?"

"No one, okay? Me! I listen to _me_." Which is actually not what I want, because I get myself into _so much trouble_, but...there's no one else I can trust. "Ven?"

"Yes?"

"...Why'd you have to die?"

"I'm sorry for leaving you, Van. I shouldn't have dismissed what you said just because you were young."

It's hard to swallow. "Yeah..." So he wouldn't have done it, if he'd known. He'd have done exactly what I told him, and gone off and left me to die. Fine. I knew he'd do that. I knew it. I _told_ him to do it. He'd rather save himself than me. I would, too, if I was him. I hate him. I don't want to see his face anymore; if this is a dream, I want to wake up. I'm so lonely out there and it hurts more there, but I can protect myself better than in here where I feel like I can't hide anything, like he knows everything I don't say. "I _told_ you it was supposed to be me who's dead."

I start to turn away, but then I can't move when he says, "No. I wish I'd listened to you, Van. Then I would have known what I was getting into, instead of just walking into it blindly. Maybe I could have gotten you out of there, _and_ still been able to stay with you until you didn't need me anymore."

"I'll always need you," I whisper before I can stop myself, and he's putting his arms around me and then I'm crying.

This _sucks_, I hate this, I hate this, but I can't stop making myself look like an idiot, like a freaking _kid_, but Ven just keeps holding me like he doesn't care that I'm messing up his shirt, and he's not all smug, either. He's just _here_. For me. Here for me like no one's ever been since Mom died. I finally give up fighting it, since I'm losing anyway, and just let myself cry. It's easier. _'I'd die for him,'_ I think, _'I'd do anything for him.'_ But...no...not anything. I'm still too scared to die. I'm still too scared of the old man. ...But if I _could_. I'd die for him, for Ven. He's done _everything_ for me, and I haven't ever given him a single thing, and I hate myself more than ever.

Finally I can get my voice working enough to choke out, "I want Xion to meet you. She's _everything_ to me, and you're- And...and I want her to meet you. But she never can, because of me. She never can..."

"It's all right, Van. She loves me, didn't you know?"

"Maybe..."

He has an affectionate smile on his face that makes my heart feel warm. It's...important to me, that he likes her, and that she'd like him. "She's never seen my face, yet she loves me as if I really were a father to her. She'll be all right, Van."

"..." It's not the same. And it's my fault. The only reason that my two most precious people can never meet is because I was a stupid kid who was too dumb to understand Ven, too dumb to see how important it was until it was too late.

"Van, please. Thinking about it this way is killing you. I _chose_ to do what I did- Van, look at me. _Look_ at me. I would do it again in a heartbeat."

"No, you wouldn't," I whisper, even as stupid hope is making my heart hurt, because I can't stand the thought of losing him again.

"I wish I'd been smarter about it, but it doesn't really matter how it would have turned out. I wouldn't have thought twice about helping you, no matter what the cost. Your grandfather could have done nothing to me I would care about; _you're_ the one I'm still desperate to save. You still have a chance, Van."

What does he...mean...?

We're in a hospital. The fire alarm's going off. People are running around like crazy, screaming, but I can barely hear them; it's like the volume on a TV is turned way down low. Mostly what I hear is the blaring alarm.

"Van Kazé," Ven says quickly, "make me proud." I can hear him perfectly. Not with my ears, because of that freaking stupid alarm, but it's like I still know exactly what he's saying.

For just a second, I think of the old man. But no...it's TOTALLY different, the way they call me that. The old man thinks he owns my soul, thinks he can crush me into doing whatever he wants. Ven is trying to pull me out into the light - all of me, not just the little bit of myself I'm willing to risk. I don't want to go, I want to stay in here where it's comfortable and I'm used to it, but I know I _should_ go. If I HAVE to obey one of them someday, it's Ven. Neither of them, for as long as I can; but when they're both calling my name and I have to move, I know which one I'll answer.

"Maybe. Someday."

"Van, it's _important_. More than you know."

"I'll think about it."

"You don't have forever to think."

"I'll THINK about it."

It's like he's being pulled away. He's still here, but his hands gripped in mine - it's like I can't hold onto him anymore, like he's turning into something I can't touch. "I love you," he says, with all his heart so that it surprises me

o.o.o

then I wake up and FREAKING STUPID ALARM CLOCK AAARRRGGGHHH, I slam a hand on the Snooze button and try to go back to sleep, but I can't. I want to break something. Ven was _right there_. The dream felt too real. "Gah, I hate this..."

It cheers me up, getting to see Xion later. Especially the way her eyes light up as she runs to me. "Vani!"

"Hey, sunshine." I hold her for a long time, thinking how real she is here in my arms. And how easily I could lose her.

"Axel, does he _have_ to come?" Roxas complains.

"Any friend of Xion is a friend of ours," Axel says in this mocking tone.

I look at them, Shielding for once. Roxas is a brat, but he's still so small...he wouldn't have a chance against anyone who tried to hurt him. Well, half a chance; I know Axel and their aunts and uncles have been teaching him some stuff. But...I dunno...I was way more of a brat than he is. Someone thought I was still worth fighting for. Worth dying for. ...Someone who happened to look a lot like Roxas. Seeing Roxas so soon after that freaking dream, his clear blue eyes without a shred of darkness in them, it makes my heart hurt a little...

"Vani is our cousin," Xion is saying in puzzlement.

"It's an expression, Xion," Saïx drones. "It simply means that the speaker is willing to ally with the friend of a friend, without requiring firsthand demonstration of their beneficial qualities. It can mean any acquaintance, the word 'friend' isn't necessarily literal."

"Uhh...okay," she says, obviously having no clue what he's talking about. Whatever.

"Let's just get going already," says Axel. He's got a hand on Roxas's shoulder and has moved more in front of him, like he's shielding him from me with his body. Roxas is standing there with him, so trustful, like it wouldn't even occur to him that Axel could ever hurt or betray him. It kind of makes me wish I could've trusted his dad like that.

"...Do you guys really not want me to come?" Usually, I wouldn't care. Usually, I'd just spend every second with Xion, enjoying it as much as I can before they drag her away from me again, but...I don't know. Something about that dream... It makes me feel heavy, the thought of spending the entire afternoon with one person I love and three people who hate me.

They're staring. "Uh...not particularly, but since when have you cared?" Axel finally says.

"I don't," I say, as sulkily as I can. "I'm just gonna have fun messing up the whole thing for you, as usual."

Xion is watching my Speech, looking distressed. It's hard, letting her see everything while simultaneously Shielding from the others, but I've gotten used to it. "Why did you say one thing but really mean the opposite?"

Don't Shield, don't Shield, don't Shield. Not from her, Van. Never from her. "I'm just having a bad day, okay, Xion?"

"You're always having a bad day," Axel snorts.

"Axel, don't be mean," Xion says. "Someone's been too mean to Vani already, he's all bleeding inside."

"No, I'm not," I mumble.

"He's not bleeding," Roxas says. "He just wants to be greedy and hog you all to himself and not share so that we can't have fun together."

I pull her close again and hug her tighter. I _do_ hog her. But so do they. They get her ALL THE TIME, whenever they want, but I have to fight for every second.

"I don't wanna go," Xion suddenly says. "I wanna stay home and watch _My Little Pony_ with Vani."

"No," I mumble. "Go have fun with everyone." I'll just hang out with Larxene or something, so I won't have to sit there and watch the time go by as I'm not being with Xion.

"What is _wrong_ with you today?!" Axel exclaims. "You're, like, being nice! Kind of."

"He woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Roxas says. I swear, that kid is so stupid.

"Roxas is _not_ stupid," Xion says.

I get sick of Saïx spewing _shock confusion perplexity frustration resentment_ at me like an idiot, so I finally stand up and doomgaze _annoyance_ at him. Maybe I can give him a hint. Just a little one. He'll probably be too dumb to connect the dots, but it's just _painful_ how clueless he still is. Like, it's not even funny anymore, I want to claw his eyes out sometimes, it's so freaking annoying. "Think [. . .]," I say. That's how babies do it, anyway. I can't even explain how I do it now, I'd have to Speak it, and he'd be too stupid to understand anyway.

"What?"

See? Stupid. [. . .]

"Thiiiiiink," I say, real slow and loud because he's obviously too dumb to understand even regular speech, "[. . .]-"

"I _heard_ you, I just have no idea what you're talking about."

"Ugh, forget it."

"Is that how you Shield?" Axel says suddenly.

"Wow, Axel. Maybe you're only seven-eighths as dumb as I thought."

"Careful, Van, I think you just complimented me."

"Are we gonna go, or not?" Roxas complains.

Xion takes my hand. "If we're gonna go, we're all gonna go together, right?"

I squeeze her hand and don't say anything.

"Yeah," Axel says. This time, I'm the one looking at him in surprise. "Because what's a fun day at the beach without good old Van, huh?"

"Craptastic, that's what it'd be," I say. Kind of out of obligation, since I'm actually...grateful.

Axel laughs. And it doesn't sound sarcastic at all. "You're so full of yourself."

"You're one to talk."

"Yeah. Come on; Van, you get the beach bag with the giant yellow sunflower on it, and let's get going!"

Maybe it's their day to be nicer, too, since none of them makes a big deal out of the fact that I did as I was told without bothering to protest.

o.o.o

Author's Notes: While playing around with ideas to commission FermonsNosYeux with, the one I eventually decided on was a Stepsibs VenVan. After placing the commission, the idea started getting really insistent and then started to write itself in my head _while I was running late for work_, ugh. So I started scribbling it out at work and typed the rest just now, and here it is. *sweatdrop*

I _swear to you_, the "seven-eighths" thing was not intentional, it would have been like that anyway. But then I looked at what I'd just typed and was like: XD

What Van can do with the Speech, that "selective Shield" thing? That's an example of why he's considered a prodigy. XD As far as I know at the moment, Xig can't do it well enough to be effective, and Xem can only do it for a very limited time; Ansem & Xehanort can do it, though not _quite_ as well as Van unless the situation is urgent. (And Saïx is such an utter fail at this point that he barely even counts. XD)

Btw, the VenVan in this is ENTIRELY platonic - I have absolutely no patience for stuff like yaoi-squee over the merest hint of two males showing affection for each other (unless that was the original intent, which it usually isn't). Ven & Van's relationship in this series is like that of a father and son; Ven died when Van was still a _child_. If you think this story is giving off yaoi vibes anyway, just keep in mind that romance/sex is not the only kind of love, and you can love/need/want someone without any desire to jump into their pants; that the two characters are alone together and therefore Van has fewer inhibitions about expressing his feelings; it's a dream (and NOT one of 'those' kind of dreams, get your mind out of the gutter -.-) where Van's defensive layers are more muted; and someone who's dead like Ven would have an entirely different perspective on things than someone who's alive. Just let this relationship _be_ what it is and don't try to cheapen it with wishful thinking. X(


	9. ELAT - The One Valentine's Day: Saïx

_**Stepsiblings**_**, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl**

_**Eyes Like A Tiger's - The One Valentine's Day**_** (rough draft)**

Summary: Saïx really has absolutely no clue about this kind of thing. Luckily for him, his girlfriend is super nice and understanding.

A/N: This was meant to be posted on Valentine's Day 2013, but I didn't finish it in time, so you're getting it almost a month late. *sweatdrop*

**AU because I totally forgot that Saïx is supposed to go to college out of state. -.-;;;; And since that bit was AU, I didn't bother to make sure that other stuff matched with the timeline.**

o.o.o

Sometimes, I think I am simply not suited to have a girlfriend.

I came to the realization by pure coincidence: I had gone down to take a break and eat something. Axel was in the living room, watching a movie with the children. I went to sit next to him for just the few minutes it would take to peel and eat the banana I'd found.

"Do _you_ think that doggie is cute?" Xion asked me insistently.

"I do not find it particularly unappealing."

"Huh?"

"Saïx doesn't count," Axel said.

"Yes, he does! Me and Saïx think it's cute, so there!"

"But then it's a tie," Roxas protested.

I had no idea what they were talking about, and did not care.

A commercial presently came on. _"Every kiss begins with Kay!"_

I had been tuning it out, along with my siblings' inane squabbling. Then it registered, and I nearly dropped the last of my banana. "Valentine's Day."

"Yeah?" Axel said, glancing over at me.

"Sacred moon. When is-? Thursday. February 14th is this Thursday."

Axel laughed. "What, you _just_ realized that?"

"I have a girlfriend. I am expected to- Sacred moon. _That's_ what she meant."

Axel stared at me. "Holy cow, Sai. You haven't made any plans yet?"

I stood up. "I need help."

"We'll help you!" Xion said, bouncing to her feet.

"No," I said automatically. Wait. "Yes." She was female. Maybe she would be useful.

"What are we doing?" Roxas asked, getting to his feet as well.

"Helping Saïx get some this Thursday," Axel said.

We all looked at him in confusion. "Get some what?"

He burst into laughter for some reason.

"This is not funny, Axel," I snarled. "I don't know the _first thing_ about- about-" Well, females my age in general, but Jasmine tended to be forgiving. I still had the impression that February 14th was a special case. "-about satisfying a woman's expectations for Valentine's Day."

"Pretty flowers, and lots of candy," Xion said. "The _good_ kind, not the yucky kind. And a pink teddy bear with a heart that sings _You are my sunshine_. And no _Transformers_ Valentines."

"Xion, she's not nine years old," Axel said. "Come on, Sai, let's go see if we can grab a reservation."

We pored over the directory while on the phone with Axel's uncles, since they seemed to have some useful experience in this area.

_"Man, cuttin' it kinda close, aren'tcha... I mean, you can try those restaurants I gave you, but I dunno if they'll have any reservations left."_

_"What were you thinking of as far as a gift?"_

"I have no _idea_, that is why we are asking you."

By then, it was too late to go shopping, so we would have to do so after school the next day. Accompanied by our younger siblings, since there was no one to baby-sit them at the last minute, and Axel couldn't bear the thought of leaving them in after-school care for so long.

"She'll like this," Roxas said, holding up a skateboard.

"Roxas, put it back," Axel laughed.

"Roxas, that's what _boys_ like!" Xion said, shoving past him to present a 'virtual pet' toy. "She'll like this."

"...If I buy you two ice cream, will you just follow along quietly and _not_ make suggestions?" I said in desperation.

I came close to deciding, in the next half hour, that jewelry counters were my least favorite places on earth. Yet I was trapped there until a decision was made, and after an exasperating exchange of text messages with Ella, I finally made a purchase and hoped I would not have to show Father the receipt any time soon. "I have a feeling I just made a mistake..."

"Dude, do you know how much I'd give to be able to hand my date a Rosetta Lawrence for Valentine's?"

"I just want to go home." Where I tried to soothe my agitation by engaging in one of my favorite activities: research. "Lea."

"What do you want?" she snapped.

"I merely wondered if you would permit me to borrow some of your, er...literature."

"What?"

After much more cajoling than I thought was necessary, I finally walked away with four books sporting black covers.

"Nice knowin' ya, buddy," Axel said almost sadly as he watched me taking them to my room.

"What do you mean by that?"

Less than five pages in, I began to see what he meant. I could not understand how in the world this could have appeal to _anyone_, much less roughly half the world's population.

Still, I persisted, slogging through hundreds of pages of swill for the sake of a woman I loved. If this could help me in any way, I would willingly endure it, even if it killed me.

...Which, sometimes, I was afraid would happen literally. "What do they _see_ in this? _He lay perfectly still in the grass, his shirt open over his sculpted, incandescent chest, his scintillating arms bare. His glistening, pale lavender lids were shut, though of course_-"

"Saïx, I never thought I'd have to say this to you, but you are making my ears bleed. Shut up."

"Apologies. I should not have made you suffer needlessly. This is a burden I must bear alone."

"Ah, give it here," Axel said with a sort of affectionate disgust, grabbing the book out of my hands. "Where'd you leave off?"

Later, Jasmine noticed that I was under more stress than usual. "Is Valentine's Day always like this for you?"

"Pardon?"

"I know you get upset because of Halloween and Christmas..."

"...The circumstances are different."

"But you're still miserable. Is it the new semester?"

"No..."

She studied me. I was uncomfortable, and had a hard time maintaining eye contact.

"Saïx...we can just, um, 'stay home and watch a movie' for Valentine's Day. If you want."

Even I could tell that she was as unfamiliar with such a practice as myself - she was accustomed to being treated like a princess, of having the best of everything. Besides, one thing I was gradually beginning to learn was that women sometimes (often?) meant the exact opposite of what they said. Which meant I'd have to enhance my plans. "I- Don't worry, my love. I'll take care of it." Or die trying. I had the strong sense that failure would mean utter catastrophe. _'I can do this. I _won't_ fail, because I am good enough for you, and I will prove it.'_

"Belle?" I asked as soon as I could get her alone. "May I speak with you?"

"Of course! What is it?"

I gave her my list. She edited it to a considerable extent - then reached up to brush my hair back over my shoulder in an affectionate way, and said, "Saïx, all she wants is to know that you love her more than anything in the world."

_'Anything?'_ I thought in alarm.

"That you really care about her, and you want her to be happy. That's all. Don't worry about all the fancy plans - as long as she has your undivided attention, she'll be happy."

_'...You're a woman. I don't believe you,'_ I couldn't help thinking.

I wasn't sure where to turn next, though, since I knew that Vexen would be utterly useless in this area, and Adam was struggling nearly as much as myself. He made a good commiseration partner, actually.

"Everyone keeps giving me different advice," he grumbled as we were studying. "Lumiere says roses and candlelight, Cogsworth says expensive gifts, Mrs. Potts says 'Just be yourself,' as if Belle actually likes me when I'm not pretending to be nice..." He gulped down another glass.

"I can certainly relate, but please switch to something non-alcoholic now; I need you fully functional until we've finished the next chapter."

The evening of February 13th, Aladdin caught me as I was heading out to the subway. "Hey...Sai?"

"Yes?"

"..." He finally expelled a long breath. "Never mind." Then he smiled - a little sadly, I thought. "You guys have fun tomorrow, okay?"

"I'll be relieved enough if _she_ enjoys it," I muttered.

Then he said something I couldn't understand.

"What?"

"It means 'I love you,'" he said softly. "In Agrabahti."

He taught me how to pronounce it correctly, so that I could say it to Jasmine the next day. Surprised and grateful, I watched him finally walk away, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders hunched against the cold.

o.o.o.o.o

I suppose it was inevitable that the day would be a disaster. From the jewelry design choice to the nauseating kisses (_attempts_ at kisses) to the terrible movie and the restaurant we were ejected from and the way she could tell the entire time how utterly miserable I was, it was one failure after another. Indeed, she seemed almost amused by it after a while.

"By the way," she said as we were walking home (having no longer any other mode of transportation), "I should have told you this sooner, but Father will kill you - really and truly kill you - if you try to, er...take me to a hotel tonight."

"What does a hotel have to do with anything?" I murmured, too preoccupied to be paying much attention.

"Well...never mind, it looks like that won't be a problem," she chuckled. I roused myself enough to think about it for a while, and finally decided that I did not want my suspicions confirmed.

We reached her doorstep. As I was trying to determine whether there was any possibility I was still expected to kiss her good-night after all this, she suddenly said, "Saïx?"

"Yes?"

"Let me- Let me grab something real quick, and then- Um, would you be _too_ terribly unhappy if we went to your house for a while?"

"What?" I had been desperately looking forward to getting to be alone and try to block out the entire day from my mind. "Why?"

"Oh, it's just...I, um, I just have Valentines for your family, and I...wanted..."

I managed to stop myself before sighing aloud.

"But it's all right, I know it'll bother you, I'll just bring them over another time."

"No, I would be happy to have you at the house for a while."

"No, you wouldn't."

"...I wish to be left alone, but _above_ that, my wish is to please you. If you will be pleased by coming to my house, I would be grateful for the opportunity to host you."

She kissed me, and I was relieved when she avoided my mouth this time. "Thank you, love."

She insisted on driving, since it was her car and she had given her chauffeur the night off. I was surprised by the number of vehicles in the driveway when we reached the house - it looked as if Axel was back home, and a few of our cousins as well.

Sure enough, the living room was crowded when we walked in. "Oooh! Sai-Sai is home!" Xion ran to hug me.

"Hello," I said.

She looked up into my face and frowned. "Did you have a bad Valentine's Day?"

"Jasmine brought something for you."

"She did?!"

Jasmine smiled. "For all of you, since it's Valentine's Day."

"Yaaay! Ooh, Roxas, we gotta go get Jasmine's Valentines and give 'em to her, she's the _last one_! AXEL! PAUSE THE MOVIE!"

"OKAY!" he shouted back playfully.

The children ran upstairs, and I looked around at all the intruders in bewildered annoyance. "What are you all doing here? Axel, I thought you would be out later."

"Eh, my girlfriend dumped me."

"Oh, no!" Jasmine gasped. "On Valentine's Day? That's terrible!"

He shrugged. "Nah, I already knew she was only dating me to make her ex-boyfriend jealous...they got back together tonight, by the way." He chuckled ruefully. "Just wish they'd waited, like, _two more_ hours."

"You're such a loser," Larxene remarked.

"Says the chick who's been single for two years now," Demyx laughed, then yelped when she casually reached over to smack him in the face.

"Yeah, and _who's_ the loser who got dumped _twice_ tonight?" Van snapped.

Demyx just shrugged. "Hazards of two timing - comes with the territory..."

"Demyx, you are an awful person," Jasmine said mildly, going to sit down at the end of the couch.

"Yes, but _so_ loveable," Demyx said sweetly, going into his act with the wide open, deceptively innocent eyes and the charming smile that far too many women find inexplicably irresistible. "Give me a call when you get tired of McDoomgaze here, 'kay?"

I didn't care that her response was a dry, "I think I'd rather be married off to the highest bidder, but thank you for offering," I was already striding forward and lifting up my girlfriend so that I could seat myself in her place and settle her in my lap. Demyx was a fool. Jasmine knew this. I could send him fleeing with a single glare. Pathetic that I still felt threatened.

Jasmine did not, however, protest the shift - she merely adjusted my arms more comfortably around her waist, rested hers on top of them, and leaned to kiss my cheek.

"GET OUT," Larxene and Van thundered at the same time.

I had been staring at the carpet, but now I turned my glare to them. "I believe it's more appropriate that _you_ get out of MY house."

"Singles only tonight," Larxene said obnoxiously. "That was the deal."

"Uh, _actually_," Axel put in, "the _deal_ was that you and Darkflood Void over there do whatever you guys do on Thursday nights, not come barging in here to kick out the baby-sitter and make yourselves at home."

"You're lucky we came," Van said, so mildly that I knew it was a blatant lie. "That fail baby-sitter was smoking weed. We did you guys a favor."

"Van," Axel said in exasperation.

Xion and Roxas came running back in again. "Jasmine! We couldn't find the Valentines because Roxas was stupid and lost them, but we made you new ones!"

"I'm not stupid!"

"Ooohh, let me see, dear."

There were Valentines for all six of us, unfortunately. Mine had glitter on it, so I did my best not to touch it, and left Jasmine with the duty of praising the children's work. Jasmine distributed the treats she had brought - there were enough extras for our uninvited guests as well. Though the children did not find the high-end chocolate to their liking, Roxas told Jasmine that he still liked her anyway, even though the chocolate was 'gross,' and my sister embraced and thanked her because Xion is a civilized young lady who, unlike her younger brother, was not raised to have the manners of an ape.

"He's still young," I told Jasmine.

She smoothed her hands over my hot cheeks, startling me into meeting her gaze again, then slipped a chocolate into my mouth. "He means well," she said with a smile.

"I'm gonna puke," Larxene said, and Van threw popcorn at us.

"Jasmiiiine, come sit in my lap, it's my turn now," Demyx whined half-playfully, and was ignored.

Axel resumed playing the movie, which was some odd-looking thing about a girl with a pig's snout.

"The pretty boy's gonna break the spell," Xion said confidently. "You'll see."

"My vote's for the midget detective," Demyx piped up.

"I like the midget detective," Roxas said.

I sighed. "He's a journalist." I'd only watched ten minutes of this movie, yet the character's profession was obvious. My family's lack of attention to detail is abhorrent.

"I think she's beautiful just the way she is," Axel joked, though Larxene's tone was resentful as she said, "She doesn't need some greasy-haired gambling addict to make her a real woman."

"Yeah, but you do," Van said with a grin, "otherwise you wouldn't be spending Valentine's Day here with your ex-boyfriends, trying to forget you're Forever Alone."

"At least I'm not stupid enough to fall in love with someone I can never have," Larxene snapped, earning a painful glare. She weathered it well, though - she's grown used to being around us.

"Everyone, stop talking," Xion ordered, "I can't hear."

Despite having to watch a movie I had little interest in, and being forced to tolerate the company of the worst of my cousins, that evening with my family was actually the part of Valentine's Day that came closest to being enjoyable.

o.o.o

Author's Notes: **Ugh, this fic is lame...I have no idea what I'm talking about.** *sweatdrop* Also, I didn't want to end it on the usual "FAMILY IS THE ULTIMATE" thing that I usually do, but I couldn't think of what else to do... There was a bit at the end that I cut out, because the flow was so terrible. It was basically Saïx & Jasmine talking on the way home about how Valentine's Day sucked, but they love each other anyway, and Saïx is all "FAAAAIIIILLLLL," and Jasmine's all "IT'S OKAAAAAYYYY," and then a bit of irony about how "next year will be a success." *sweatdrop*

Ftr, I REALLY HATE feminine dishonesty. _Say what you freaking mean_. So that guys can actually _trust_ you and believe you and not get confused, and so they'll believe _me_, because I actually _do_ mean what I say, but they don't believe me because the rest of my sex insist on being coy. -.-

Lollllll, **"Darkflood Void" is the name Taliax came up with for pony-Vanitas**. X3 I think I'd come up with a different one, but I didn't feel like digging through my notes to look for it when this is just a rough draft, so I just used hers for now, since it's cute and works just as well. ^^

**Also, the quote is by Stephenie Meyer. XD XD** Technically, it should have been a quote from later on in the series, but I couldn't find anything juicer than the meadow scene as I was skimming through, and I didn't want to even touch those books for longer than I had to. *sweatdrop*

**Ftr, I LOVE the movie **_**Penelope**_**, it's one of my favorite romances (and Peter Dinklage totally rocks :w00t:), but I do have to keep the characters IC when I'm writing them... I hate offending people when I don't mean to. .**

I still haven't really gotten to write the "Vitriolic" part of Van & Larxene's relationship, but they tend to band together against common enemies. Plus...Larxene, and Van at times, are often _so dang hard_ for me to write.

Kay Jewelers is a jewelry company, they have no relation to Saïx's mother in the _Stepsiblings_ universe whatsoever. ^^;

Oh, and if you're getting tired of jerk Demyx, I FINALLY managed to write him as the nicer Demyx I love in the (currently unposted) KH/Divergent fic, yaaaay. ^^;

o.o.o

[Outtake, because I'm ridiculous and accidently switched to Axel's POV for a few lines, _without even realizing it_ 'til I switched back to Saïx's. XD]

"What are we doing?" Roxas asked, getting to his feet as well.

"Helping Saïx get some this Thursday," I said, wondering whether or not I was joking.

They all looked at me in confusion. "Get some what?" _All three of them._ I couldn't help laughing.


	10. Rejection, AU version: Saïx

_**Stepsiblings**_**, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl**

**Rejection [AU version] (rough draft)**

Summary: It's kind of too late, Axel...

A/N: Saïx's POV.

o.o.o

"No, no, I promise," Axel said as we approached the driveway. "We _are_ going to the beach the second Sai and I pick you guys up on the last day of finals. Even if I have to go to school in swim trunks and flip-flops."

The children laughed. "Are you really gonna go to school in a swimsuit, Axel?"

"Of course he's not," I said firmly as I unlocked the mailbox. "Under no circumstances would it be allowed."

"Awwww..."

"Man, Sai, now you make me wanna try it for real."

I ignored him in favor of sorting through the mail. "Axel, you got something from-" I stared. "Radiant Garden?" It was a prestigious school, which was why Father expected me to go there. It was odd to even consider the possibility that Axel could have a connection with it, too, but I supposed they were sending invitations to all of Father's teenage children on general principle.

"Ah! Give it!" Axel snatched the envelope out of my hand and ripped it open, surprising me again. When had he developed such an interest in college mail?

He stared at the letter. Then his face took on a stiff look, and he stuffed the message into his bag.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Nothing, just junk mail."

He would not have that expression if all he had seen was junk mail.

"Axel, pleeeaaase," Roxas asked hopelessly, knowing already what the answer would be, "please please please please PLEASE play with us?"

"Maybe...maybe later tonight, kiddo; I've got homework to do..."

A few weeks ago, a response like that would have had us fearing for his mental health. However, we had now become used to our brother's sudden uncharacteristic diligence in doing schoolwork. Still, I was pretty certain that something was wrong this time...

Axel went straight to his room as soon as we entered the house. I got the children settled with a snack, warned them that they were only allowed one thirty-minute television show before they would have to begin their homework, then went to see if Axel had had sufficient time alone and would now require companionship.

I knocked on his bedroom door. Upon receiving no answer, I opened it and found him lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling and listening to that stuff he calls music.

"I see that you have been quite productive," I said dryly.

"I hate school," he replied. "I don't even _want_ to go to college."

"You know that is not an option."

"Shut up."

I paused, on the brink of leaving. Then I sighed, shut the door behind me, and came to sit on the bed beside him. I had come to learn that sometimes, people say hurtful things when they themselves are hurting.

I watched him for a while, thinking. Then I finally said, "You applied to Radiant Garden, didn't you."

"Of course I didn't," he burst out, passionately this time. "That's dumb. Why would someone as stupid as me think he could get into a school where only rich geniuses like you belong?"

I only meant to put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, and to try to catch his attention, but I found myself pressing down hard until he winced. I was angry again, needing him to _listen_. "You are not stupid," I said when he was finally looking at me. "You are quite intelligent in your own way, as I have told you before. But when you _choose_ to neglect your studies, and set low standards for yourself, and make academic success a low priority, it _obviously follows_ that you will not, in the space of a few weeks, suddenly catch up to someone who has had the exact opposite attitude for fourteen years."

He glared at me, saying nothing. I noticed that his eyes were glistening a little more than they had been before.

I finally murmured, "Axel, would you really choose me over the children, if you could? I find that difficult to believe."

"I just," he whispered, which did not quite hide the tears in his voice, "I just wanted the _option_, you know?"

"It doesn't matter. You would have chosen them, regardless, and you should. They need you far more than I do."

"...Do you even need me at all?"

For some reason, it was hard to swallow, but I managed to say steadily, "I will miss you, Axel."

He drew in a deep breath. "Stay here, then! There are plenty of good schools around here, right? Stay!"

"You know I can't do that, Axel."

He swore, then rolled over so that his face was hidden in the pillow, his arms clutched tightly around it.

"It's only four years..." I felt hollow saying it, since it seemed like it might as well be half my life.

Axel shouted something into his pillow.

"Axel, I cannot understand what you're saying when your mouth is obstructed."

He rolled back over and yelled at me, "Four years! And when you come back, you'll be a creepy robot again, right? You're gonna lock yourself in your dorm for four years and study your brains out and never talk to anyone, then you'll graduate with mega-honors and FATHER will just be _so proud of you_, his perfect doormat son who'll forget how to smile again and forget that he ever cared about us and forget how to say anything without sounding like a freaking dictionary and-"

I got up and walked toward the door. There was no point in arguing with him when he got like this, and I did not want to say something I would regret.

He reached me before I'd even taken three steps, seizing the back of my shirt and twisting his fingers in the fabric to hold me immobile. Then he hissed, _"How can I reach you_ when you're so far away and I'll almost never get to see you?"

I couldn't turn around, so I just said where I was, "I am not a 'robot.' Robots have no feelings to hurt."

After a moment, he released my shirt and put his arms around my shoulders instead, a gesture that felt more comforting than confining. "Promise you won't turn back into McDoomgaze again, okay? No matter how long you're stuck there, you have to stay the Saïx who's our brother. Got it?"

"I can't _stop_ being your brother, Axel," I said, my feelings turning to mild amusement.

He chuckled a little, also. "Well, _technically_, if Mom and Xem ever divorced, we'd only be, like...ex-stepbrothers, or something..."

"I thought it didn't matter who our parents are," I said, raising an eyebrow.

He laughed and clapped my shoulder as he moved past me. "We have taught you well. Come on, let's go play Knights of Equestria with the kids."

"Ugh. Maybe I liked it better when you would come home and go straight to studying..."

o.o.o

Author's Notes: AU because Axel probably wouldn't even try to get into Saïx's school - much as he knew he'd miss his bro, he definitely planned from the beginning to stay close to the kids.

In case you're wondering, the non-AU version of "Rejection" is really short and is in the drabble challenge (Wishing-Fire's) that I'm working on but haven't started posting yet.


End file.
